Family Reunion
by Greaserthings
Summary: Sixteen years after the events in Tulsa a Family Reunion is finally organized and all seven greasers will be reunited again. Some with families, others starting families. Follow the boys as they learn how to be good husbands, fathers, and brothers. Clean version. See my account for the M version.
1. Chapter 1

Dallas

As I drove down the interstate, the nerves I hadn't felt in almost two years were creeping their way into my thoughts. My fiancée sat in the seat beside me, sleeping with her hand resting on her small baby bump.

 _About a year after the dust had settled in Tulsa after the murder case, I was arrested and sentenced to a year in jail with no chance of early parole. After that year was up Darry offered me a job with the construction company he built, but I found out that it wasn't for me. I handed in my resignation and took off a week later._

 _I had driven for what felt like weeks before stopping in NYC. I spent two weeks blowing through my savings by staying in a hotel and going out to bars. Quick enough I realized that hustling money through games of billiards wasn't enough to last in a city like this. I started looking for places to bartend, I mean what fit me better than serving (and having access to free alcohol) drunk girls that were willing to put out? Well, the only place hiring was a well known cop bar, the Five-O._

 _At first I thought it to be- ah shit whats the word- I guess coincidental that a criminal like me would apply to a bar that was pretty much only filled with cops. Just for the hell of it I applied and actually got the job, and I started working the crazy hours that were demanded._

 _Then one night, a plain clothed brunette came in that stopped me in my tracks. It was weird, seeing her and feeling like I already knew her. She and her friend sat at the bar, not in my section. I recognized her friend, he was in here every night practically. He was a homicide detective, his name was Aaron._

 _"Hey Adam, two beers." The other bartender nodded and the two of them left to go to the floor. That was the last time I saw her for two months. It was horrible, I hated the fact that I snapped my head over every time the door opened, hoping it was this girl I'd only ever seen once. For almost two months I didn't see her, and then out of no where she started coming in almost every night. She never had more than two beers, but I think everyone knew she had changed. One night when it was almost three in the morning and we were almost done cleaning she was still sitting in one of the booths quietly. It was my night to lock up, the other bartender had gone home around two._

 _"You good?" I asked, sitting across from her with a big plate of french fries. She seemed shocked that someone was here, I could tell she was thinking hard._

 _"Yeah… Fine."_

 _"No you ain't. You didn't show here for almost two months and now we can count on you showing."_

 _"I just… I got dumped. At the aisle."_

 _"Well shit." I mumbled, opening myself a beer._

 _We sat in silence before I asked if she wanted to talk about it. That night we ended up talking until almost six in the morning, and I finally found out her name- Elizabeth._

 _Then she asked me if I wanted to join her on her "vacation" and I wanted to say no (I hate flying) but there was a private beach and cabin, and who am I to turn down a free romp? There was a period after those weeks that Beth and I had been in good terms, we had been texting and hanging out but we never tried to move past anything. She didn't like that my idea of a "career" was a bar tender and I hated the idea of the commitment she wanted. We had many explosive fights in that period and after the last bad fight she started ignoring me. I knew that at this point, I'd either have to suck it up and find a better career and tag along with the commitment or find another fling._

It was silent for our ride, she'd been sleeping most of the way and I had the music on quietly not to wake her. Every so often she'd wake up and request a pee break, half the time before I could find a gas station she would be asleep again. She was on light duties at work, hardly in the field. I knew she hated not being in the field as much, being a cop meant everything to her.

This was going to be my first time back in Tulsa in almost ten years. I'd tried my best to keep in touch with most of the boys but the only one I really kept in touch with was Johnny. He lived in Bar Harbor, Maine, which was roughly an eight hour drive from NYC.

I could tell that it may be awkward, the only one that knows about Beth besides Johnny is Darry, and that's because he called me when I was freaking out that she was pregnant. There was a secret that no one knew about Beth and I, and that was that we were moving back to Tulsa. As good as New York has been to me, there's been something missing ever since I left Tulsa. Beth's Mom and Step Dad live in Guymon, and they'd really been worried about her living in New York and being a cop. Her Dad lived in New York but only stayed in contact with her for a month.

"Dallas?" Beth asked quietly, waking up slowly, "Pee break?" I nodded and reached over to rest my hand on her leg,

"Give me three minutes to make it to the exit." She nodded and slowly wiped her eyes to wake up,

"Where are we?"

"Just passing through Effingham now babe." She nodded and straightened up in her seat, looking around. One of the things that I loved about her was the fact that she was independent when she wanted to be, but there was still a part of her that depended on me. I could never stand being with a girl that constantly depended on me, every second of the day. Johnny's wife, Elena, depended on Johnny for everything. It works for them, Johnny loves that she's dependant on him. Johnny was a paramedic and Elena was a school teacher. She taught English in the local high school. Together they had two kids, two girls that had Johnny wrapped around their finger.

"Do you think things are going to be different between you and the guys?" She asked, resting her hand on top of mine,

"Probably. I haven't spoken to most of them in ten years… I'm not even sure what half of them do for a living."

"I think that they're going to really appreciate you coming home after all these years."

I sighed and pulled off at an enroute gas station so she could pee. I waited in the car as she got out and went in to use the washroom.

The phone rang through the car and I pressed the button on the steering wheel to connect to bluetooth.

"Hello?"

"Hey Dallas," Darry said, "Where abouts are you?"

"A gas station in Effingham. I think we're going to pull off soon and find a motel."

"Okay man, so should we expect you some time tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm going to try and leave the motel by five am so we can make it to Tulsa by one."

"Okay man, well don't over do Beth okay?"

"Yeah yeah. I'll keep you posted."

"Thanks man, I can't wait to see you tomorrow."

"Yeah same. Look she's on her way out, so hopefully we'll be there around one tomorrow."

"Yep, see you later." He hung up, and Beth got back in the car,

"Who was that?" She asked, getting back into her seat.

"Darry, he was asking how far out we were still. I told him we're going to stop and find a hotel for the night."

"Are you sure? I can drive some, I've slept for the last couple hours."

"I'm sure. You need more rest, you've been working non stop and the baby is growing." I used the GPS on my truck to track down the nearest hotel, just a few miles past the gas station, right on the highway.

We pulled up and I went in to get a room, and immediately I knew I wasn't going to have a good ease with this place. The reception area looked like it hadn't been cleaned in twenty years and there wasn't a very pleasant smell that I knew would bother Beth.

"Any other hotels around?"

"Not for another fifty miles or so," The woman said, chomping on her gum, "How many nights you want hun?"

"One." I said, getting out my wallet and handing her the cash. She handed me a key (not even a key card) and told me to park around back. I went back out and saw Beth looking around and I knew that her senses were in over drive.

"I don't like this place."

"Me neither but it's the best we got for the night." We drove around back and I was glad that we brought my truck and not her SUV. With the new baby coming we decided to trade in her old beat up car and get a safer vehicle for when the baby comes. As it stood now, we had two new vehicles, I had just bought a new pick up thanks to all the over time I'd been working. I grabbed our small bags and her pillows before heading up the fire escape to our room. When I opened the door it smelled mouldy and looked like it hadn't been renovated since the seventies. Beth sat on the bed and looked around. There was one bed, a television, a small bathroom and a bar fridge along with microwave. Hardly enough to sustain us for more than one night.

"You wanna order a pizza or something?" I asked, putting our bags on the desk under the television. She nodded, adjusting her pillows on the bed. I didn't need any pillows- half the time I used her as my pillow.

She called and ordered for a large pizza, before turning on the television. I went to the shower and started it, undressing before getting in. When I got out pizza was here and Beth was already eating, engrossed in some reality crime show. I smirked and rolled my eyes, taking my towel off and laying on the bed beside her,

"You're not going to put boxers on? What if someone tries to break in and you're naked?"

I chuckled, "Hopefully they turn and run." She sighed and finished eating before she changed out of her pants and panties, leaving herself in my sweatshirt. She moved down to rest her head on my chest, draping her arm around me. I rested my arm on top of her, but this was as close as we came to cuddling. She reached for the remote and changed the channel that was showing a movie.

There were things about me she knew would never (or most likely never change) and cuddling was definitely one of them. My feelings on a huge wedding weren't going to change either. Her family was huge, my only family was the guys. I know it's been hard for her to accept the fact that I will never want a big fancy wedding.

I'll make a compromise, don't get me wrong. Maybe fifty people tops, she can buy her wedding dress and all of that crap, but I'm not putting on a show for four hundred people. I'm keeping the wedding real and affordable. Its like I told her, nice house and a cheap wedding or a nice wedding and a shit house. I'd rather have a nice house, using our money from our place in NYC and our own money.

After a while I felt her breathing slow down and I looked down to see her sleeping against me, and I reached for the remote and turned the television off, knowing that we'd make the rest of our journey tomorrow.

 **Hey guys! I just wanted to let you know that there is going to be an 'M' version of this that includes smut for SOME chapters but not all of them. As for my readers following Petals of Force, Tulsa Heat, or Pull Me Back, at the moment I won't be continuing them. I feel like I've grown as a writer in the last little while and during that time I've also lost the direction I was planning to head with these stories. I'm sorry for the bad news but I hope you guys enjoy this one, so far I'm pretty proud of it. Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

Johnny

"Do you think the girls will be okay on the plane ride?" Elena asked, brushing her hair naked as I lay on our bed with my arm over my eyes. I decided at the last second to work overtime yesterday for some extra cash before we left for Tulsa. When Dallas told me he was thinking of moving back home to Tulsa part of me desperately wanted to as well. But moving back home meant that Lena would have to leave everything and everyone she's ever known. I hadn't even proposed the idea to my wife, I knew how close she was with her family, I mean her parents lived with us and her sister lived down the road.

"They'll be just fine Elena, Easton is so excited to see the clouds and Eleanor is too young to remember it." I said and I felt the bed dip beside me,

"What's going on Johnny?"

"Nothing baby, don't worry." She sighed and sat down, and I could mentally see my wife as she sat there with her arms crossed,

"If something is wrong it's best you tell me now so you don't have to keep it on your chest."

I sighed, moving my arm and looking over at Elena,

"I… I just miss Tulsa. Now that we're going back to visit…"

"You wish that we were going back permanently." She finished for me. God this woman could read me like an open book.

"Yeah," I admitted quietly. She sighed and laid down beside me, resting her head on my chest,

"Well… Okay."

"What?" I asked, in complete shock.

"Well… I know you were going to move back years ago and I begged you not to… My parents are retired and they'll likely follow us. The girls are young enough that the move won't affect them… And I know that being this far away from Dallas and your 'brothers' is hard on you… So… I say while we're there for the month or so we can start our house hunt." I grinned and kissed her passionately,

"I love you so much Elena. Thank you so much." She smiled and kissed me back, slowly climbing on top of me. I grinned and kissed down her neck softly, wrapping my arms around her waist. She smiled,

"Turn over, you're so tense," She said softly before she started rubbing my back. After a while she stopped and I rolled over grinning,

"Thank you baby… But I think you're trying real hard to put me to sleep," I said with a yawn. She giggled and pulled the covers around us and not long after we were both sound asleep.

"Dada! Mama!" I heard Easton squeal as she came running down the hall. Elena got out of bed and went to open the door for our oldest daughter. Easton squealed and giggled when Elena picked her up and threw her into the bed. She squealed and crawled on top of me, trying to tickle me. I laughed and tickled her back, loving the adorable sound of her giggles.

"I'm going to get Ella," Elena said, leaving the room. Easton settled down and laid on my chest, her head resting to the side and looking out the window at the ocean. I rubbed her back, kissing her head softly,

"Did you sleep well baby?" She nodded, her curls straightening as she moved her head, her hair caught between herself and my chest.

"Did you have good dreams?"

She nodded again, "Yes Dada, I dweamed dat we had picnik!" She said excitedly. The only hard thing about leaving Maine would be the view that we were lucky enough to have. The house we were living in was Elena's parents house, which they gave to us as a wedding present. They travelled for two years before coming home and trying to look for somewhere else to live, but they were close enough to the both of us that we wanted them to live with us.

"Oh yeah? What did we eat at the picnic?" These girls meant the entire world to me. I could hardly believe that someone up there thought that I deserved this beautiful family. Easton was three years old, with my black curly hair, but dark green eyes that belonged to her mother. Eleanor had her mother's chestnut hair but she had my dark brown eyes. I loved that our daughters were a perfect mix of the both of us, and I hoped that we'd continue to be this lucky with our future children.

Elena was stunning. She had green eyes, a shade so dark I'd never ever seen it on another person. She had long chestnut brown hair, easily the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my whole life. I never thought that I'd end up with a woman like her, when we met in college she was a cheerleader and I was just trying to fit in (which wasn't easy to do being from Tulsa). However, for some reason we happened to cross paths one day in the elevator at student housing. She was on her way to see one of her friends and I was just getting home after a gruelling work out session.

I remember checking her out, which I didn't do very well because not even a second later she glared at me. We ended up getting off at the same floor and the rooms she was looking for was right next to mine. Later that night everyone in my hallway was throwing a party and as per usual I didn't go. My notes always took a couple times of reading and re-writing to stick and obviously that took time. For once there was a quiet knock on my door and I thought that it was just me hearing things. Until I heard the knock again and I opened the door,

"Hey baby! Thanks for inviting me over!" She had said, kissing me, and then I looked over to see three guys staring hungrily at her.

"Of course. Come on in babe." She came into my room and I closed the door, turning around to see her sitting on my bed,

"I'm sorry to have kissed you like that, those guys just wouldn't leave me alone and they kept trying to touch me."

"Never be sorry for trying to protect yourself. I'm just studying, you're welcome to use my laptop to watch something on Netflix."

"What are you studying?"

"Right now I'm studying anatomy… I've got a test tomorrow and I know most of them but… It just takes me longer to learn things."

"I could help you, if you'd like." I looked over at her before nodding. After that, she came over a week later to ask how my test went. I told her I got an A, and that it was thanks to her. After that she came over every day to help me with my homework, some days she would bring her own homework over and we'd work in silence.

Then one night we were done all of our homework and we just sat and talked for hours. I told her everything about Tulsa, every detail of who I was. I knew that I was falling for this girl, and it was the first time in my life I'd ever felt like this. Instead of shying away or not looking at me when I told her, she looked like she was going to cry,

"I'm… I'm so sorry you had to go through that." She said, taking my hand softly.

I shrugged and looked at my hands. I felt her cup my face and I looked over at her before feeling her lips on mine.

That night had been the best of our life, the both of us ended up losing our virginities. Since that night we hadn't been further apart than a town over, she introduced me to her family less than a week later and surprisingly they loved me.

When we were picking our the names for Easton and Eleanor, I agreed to let Elena pick the first name and I'd pick the name of our second child.

However, the day Eleanor was born had been both one of the best yet scariest of my life. Elena had complications during her birth and almost bled out on the table. While my daughter was taking her first breaths, my wife could have been taking her last. They handed me my daughter before kicking me out of the OR so they could start operating.

I sat in the waiting room, holding my second born while trying to get a hold of my in laws, they were at the house watching Easton. I'd never felt more alone in my entire life than I did that hour. I couldn't even imagine being a single dad, especially to a newborn and a small toddler. Just after the hour was over Elena's doctor came out and explained what had happened, but all of that went in one ear and out the other. All I wanted and needed to hear was that my wife would be okay. When she confirmed that Elena was alive and be okay I couldn't help but cry. I'd never been so scared and so worried. I had to wait a couple more hours before seeing her, and when I could see her she was already awake and mostly alert.

"What did you name her?" She asked, after half an hour of quiet visiting,

"I… I named her after you. This is Eleanor Vivian Cade." Eleanor was a close enough name to Elena, and Vivian was also Elena's middle name. I had to name my baby girl after her, she had to remember her Mom in some way, had Lena not made it out of surgery.

Elena walked back in carrying a sleepy Eleanor, who was cuddled into her Mom's embrace. I grinned, laying my arm out so that Elena could lay beside me with our youngest. Ella looked around happily when she realized where she was, I smiled and kissed her head softly. This was my favourite thing about mornings and the main reason I started taking the night shifts.

"We can't lay down for very long, Mom and Dad have to drive us to the airport soon." Lena said quietly, and I sighed and kissed all of my girls on their head before getting up, holding Easton. She giggled as I sat her back down on the bed, grabbing my jeans and a shirt to change into, walking into the bathroom on the master bedroom.

I changed and washed my face, packing the rest of the things I'd need out of the bathroom. When I came out Elena was dressing Easton and I could tell from the washroom that Ella needed to be changed. I grabbed a diaper and some wipes, changing her diaper. Once the girls were dressed we brought them downstairs and ate breakfast.

"Are you excited to go back to Tulsa?" Greg asked, sipping his coffee across from me at the table. Each of us sat at either head at the table, Elena was on my left hand side and Easton sat on my right, Ella sitting beside us in her high chair.

"Yeah, I can't wait to see them all again."

"Mom? Dad? Johnny and I… Are going to be looking for a house while we're in Tulsa… Would you consider moving with us?"

Both parents gave me a knowing look before nodding, "We would love to sweetie, we can't let you and our grand babies move across the country without us."

She smiled happily, eating her breakfast. What my wife didn't know was that I could also read her like an open book and I knew that she would agree to move back to Tulsa with me.

Darry's residential construction company was building a new housing community and one of the new houses belonged to us. Darry's company had an app that let you design your perfect dream home, Elena and I spent a month creating it, she thought it was only for fun. Although we couldn't afford top of the line finishes, Darry was able to find some ways to cut some costs (alternatives to granite counter tops, expensive appliances, and an alternative to hardwood). While we spent the month in Tulsa her parents were going to be packing all of our stuff and then driving down with it all. We would still keep this house as a vacation home and possibly rent it out during the summer season.

"Okay we should get going, are you ready?" Barbara said, standing up with Greg. We nodded and brought our bags out to the SUV, starting the drive to the airport. Just as we pulled into the parking lot my phone rang,

"Hey Sodapop," I said, getting out of the car and unbuckling Easton from her car seat,

"Hey! I just wanted to let you know that one of us is going to pick you up from the airport, I'm just not sure who yet."

"Okay, well we should be there in five hours."

"Alright, sounds good man. See you then."

"See you later."

I hung up and walked beside my wife until we got to the gate. Her parents hugged both of us tightly and then kissed the girls' head.

"Call us when you land in Tulsa okay? Make sure you keep in touch," Barbara said, kissing Elena's head again,

She smiled and kissed her mother's cheek,

"Okay Mom, I love you." I picked up Ella and Elena picked Easton up, and we walked onto the plane.


	3. Chapter 3

Two-bit

I walked into my restaurant first thing on Monday morning with a big grin on my face,

Damn, I thought, If every Monday morning started with sex then there'd be no such thing as the Monday blues.

My wife had woken up frisky this morning, and hell I felt like a lucky man because I had gotten action last night as well. Okay well maybe she wasn't frisky, but with everyone coming home for the "Family Reunion" she was definitely feeling the baby blues and wanted a baby desperately. We'd been married for almost eight years, with Olivia being the only girl to (not only) put up with my antics, but also stick around and help me learn the proper way to treat a girl (to be honest this ended in a lot of arguments on my part and a lot of awkward conversations on her part).

The two of us had been trying for almost five years for a baby with no luck, and it was starting to take it's toll on us. When we first started trying, we'd try whenever we felt like it-there had been no need to rush. Then two years went by and we didn't see any results so we went to the doctor and he assured us that everything was normal and that things may just take a little longer. After another year of trying we went to see a specialist who told us that I had slow swimmers, and to increase our chances of having a baby we should keep close watch to see when Ollie would be ovulating and well… go to town.

The weeks that Ollie ovulated we pretty much didn't leave the house or my office. Seeing how happy Soda, Darry, and Steve were with their wives and kids made me jealous. I wanted that. I wanted to wake up and see my wife holding our baby, I wanted to watch her teach our little guy how to read or how to walk and it seemed the more time went on, the further we got away from that dream.

I started cleaning the dining area, mopping the floor before taking the chairs off the table and setting them on the ground. All of these preparations had to be done before my staff showed up so that they could focus on the food and customers. Usually during the day I stayed in my office (if I bothered to stick around the whole day). The way I had it, I had two shift managers that could run things, and staff for each shift. Usually I'd try and go in once a day, say hi in the morning, then once a week I'd have a meeting with both shifts to let them know what was going on, and then I'd do my own thing.

Since Ollie worked for Darry's residential construction business she tended to have some off time, and during those times is when we spent the most amount of time together. It was hard when there were busy weeks and I'd hardly ever see her, I don't know how some couples go for days without seeing their significant other.

Once the daily morning duties were complete I went to my office, next door to the break room. I'd tried to create a family environment here, not only for the customers but also for the staff. We were a fairly big restaurant and I couldn't have my staff upset with something and then not putting their full effort into the business. Everyone can tell when someone is half-assing their job and it doesn't look good on them or the business.

The biggest controversy I have with my business is my morning manager- Sylvia Johnson (Dally's ex-girlfriend). I knew that most of the towns people (that were my age obviously) had mixed feelings about me hiring her and having her around the kids.

However it was Olivia that insisted I give her a chance. Olivia knew all about Sylvia, her past and her antics. When I gave Sylvia a chance at managing the shift she was a natural. She dealt with cranky employee's and cranky customers with ease (if you ask me it's a result of dealing with Dally's shit for too long).

Sylvia knocked on my office door and I looked up from my computer screen to wave her in,

"Morning Sylvia," I said, closing my browser.

She eyed the screen that I just closed and opened her mouth to say something and I shook my head, "No, not porn… It's… It's an article on artificial insemination. It's been eight years… And I can't keep disappointing Olivia with false positives and my stupid slow swimmers."

She sighed and sat in the chair on the other side of my desk, "Two-bit you should sit down and have an honest talk with her. See if this is something she truly wants, or if she wants to maybe look at a cheaper alternative like adoption." I nodded and leaned back in my chair,

"What can I do for you?"

"Well… I've been working here for almost five years now… And… I mean I believe I'm a great asset to the team..."

"Yes, you can have a raise Sylvia."

"Oh thank god, otherwise I was about to do a whole lotta ass kissing," She said with a huge grin. I knew why Sylvia wanted a raise, she was a single mom to a kid that was almost nine. No one knew who's kid it was, not even Sylvia.

I laughed, pulling up the file on my laptop, looking through to give her the exact amount her raise would be and have her sign a new contract.

"So I heard Dallas is coming back…" She said quietly. I looked at her and I couldn't exactly tell if the look on her face was because she missed him or jealous because he'd found someone else.

"Yeah, he's bringing his fiancée with him… She's about five months pregnant." Again with the look, so I sighed,

"Sylvia you may miss him but he's moved on. I hate saying it like this but he was never into you for more than a romp."

"I know Keith." She said sharply.

"You ain't helping your case by calling me by my first name and giving me attitude."

She sighed and I gave her the new contract with her earnings on it. She thanked me and went downstairs to start working. A couple hours later I decided to get some lunch and when I went downstairs I was happy to see Steve and his wife Tessa eating lunch. I smiled at Sylvia,

"Remember that family doesn't pay." She nodded and I ordered my food before sauntering over,

"Mind if I join?" Tessa grinned and shook her head, and I sat with them. Olivia was Tessa's older sister, which made Steve and I brothers (in-law). We knew of the girls back in the day, they were from our side of town and had an older brother but we were never in the same circles they were. Tessa was just about nine months pregnant with their second child. They decided not to know the gender for this one, they already had a son that was three years old- Julian.

"How's it going?" Steve asked, eating his fries. I shrugged and leaned back in my chair,

"Fine I guess… Still no luck in the baby department."

Tessa put one of her hands on top of mine, "These things take time honey. Steve and I tried for almost two and a half years before we got this little one," She said, rubbing her bump softly. God that looked uncomfortable, kudos to girls for being able to put themselves through that.

"So Johnny should be landing in a couple of hours and Dallas should be here later tonight." Steve said, and I raised my eyebrow,

"I thought Dallas was flying too?"

"Nah, the chicken shit is scared of flying remember?" I couldn't help but laugh at that, it was the truth.

"Yeah fair enough. Where are they staying?"

"I think in hotels. Pony and Audrey are driving up tomorrow and they're going to be staying with Darry, I think Soda offered to take one of them in but Johnny's got two little ones and Dallas and Beth… Well I can imagine they'd want their space, god only knows how loud they are." Steve finished with a grin. I shook my head laughing,

"Well there's nothing worse than having a neighbour go out of their way to tell you to shut up, believe me it happens about once a week with us,"

"What happens once a week with us?" I heard someone ask and I grinned, turning around to see Olivia walk in, wearing her work boots, jeans, and the company shirt. God she just looks so hot (I mean beautiful) all the time.

"The neighbour calling or texting us to be quiet." I said with a grin and she blushed accordingly. Steve grinned and Tessa reached over to swat his hand,

"Leave them alone Steve. Maybe if you learned how to be quiet you'd get more sex."

"Ooh," I said, I knew that Steve hardly got laid, "Shots fired."

However this didn't even phase Steve, "Maybe if you learned how to be louder we'd have a third baby by now."

She glared at him and I watched in amazement as her glare changed his facial expression from one that was ready to fight, to one that immediately knew that he did something wrong,

"Babe-" He said but she cut him off,

"Don't worry about it Steve. We'll talk about it later."

One thing that Steve always had a hard time with was remembering that Tessa wasn't Evie. Steve and Evie pretty much got married after high school and stayed married for almost ten years, until they started "growing apart" (we're all pretty sure that they were cheating on each other, and Tessa was the other woman). Evie let Steve do whatever he wanted, pretty much let him treat her however he wanted and didn't tend to stick up for herself or even argue with Steve. Tessa was the opposite of all of those things. They dated officially for a year and a half, got married just after their two year anniversary and had Julian not long after.

"So we put the finishing touches on another house today!" Olivia said excitedly. I knew that it must have been hard for her, working around luxurious dream homes every day but she never once mentioned anything about moving or buying one. Currently we lived in the heart of downtown Tulsa, in a loft style apartment. It was nice and open but it offered no privacy when people came over (which meant no action in the kitchen while everyone was in the dining room).

"Babe that's amazing," I said, leaning up to kiss her. She happily kissed me back, her blond hair falling like a curtain around us. When I opened my eyes I saw her looking at me intensely with her beautiful chocolate brown eyes,

"I love you. Could we talk?" She asked and I nodded,

"Of course. Did you want to go home or up to my office babe?"

"I think we should go home."

"Alright, well I just ordered some food, did you want anything?" She looked thoughtful for a moment or two before nodding, telling Sylvia her order. Sylvia nodded and put a rush on the order, and we sat at the counter quietly. I held her hand in mine tightly, I was worried about her news. Once we got our food we went out to her car, I usually walked or took public transit to work, we only lived about a twenty minute walk away from the restaurant.

Instead of driving home she drove towards the outskirts of town, where Darry's company had just finished a new housing development. Immediately I knew what she was going to ask,

"Ollie… I don't know that we can afford to live here." I said softly, trying not to break her heart. She ignored me and kept driving to the other side of the development, pulling up in front of a house, smaller than the rest, but still big enough by my standards (a three bedroom, three bath).

"This one… We can afford this one Two-bit. I know we can, we've had our eye on it since it was designed… Charolette said there's been no offers and I can guarantee that Darry is willing to take a little less for this one since all of the others are going way above asking… Please. We need a home like this to raise a family."

I sighed, I couldn't break her heart twice. First with no kids and now without the home of her dreams.

"Okay babe… Call Charolette and have her put an offer in for us."

She grinned widely and called, and I couldn't help but feel a tad sick. I'd heard Ollie and Darry talking about how much these homes went for, but we were rushing into this. We'd have to buy a car for me, this was too far to walk to work and transit didn't come out this way just yet. God forbid if we ever did have a baby we'd surely be tight for money.

"He accepted!" She announced happily, opening her glove box and pulling out the key, handing it to me,

"Welcome home.." I said softly, leaning over to kiss her. We went into the house to look around and I was amazed that it was already furnished.

"How..?"

"This was the model home for the other smaller homes in the neighbourhood… Darry said we're welcome to keep what we need."

I grinned and kissed her softly, carrying her to the master bedroom.

 **I just wanted to give a big thanks to Lsquared2 and GreaserGirlie for all of their help with ideas and editing! You girls are the absolute best! Please read and review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Ponyboy

"Good morning Michael," The receptionist, Kelly, said with a smile. It was just before nine am, and I had a day full of appointments before my family and I would be leaving for Tulsa.

"Morning Kelly, when's my first patient in?" I asked, going through to my office. She followed me with a file folder in hand.

"Nine, it's George Tilmer, the baby that went for surgery for retinoblastoma, he's here for his check up." I grinned happily, he was was one of my very first patients when I became a paediatrician.

"Thank you Kelly. I'm trying to stay on time today, I'm leaving with Audrey and the girls at five."

"Yes, I've got your emergency patients going to Doctor Cross, and if they're in dire need I've left a message on your machine for them to seek immediate medical attention."

"Perfect. Whenever George and his family get here send them in, I'm going to try and stay ahead of schedule today."

"Right. I'll do my best to keep them moving."

"Thanks Kelly," I said, resting my brief case beside my desk and pulling on my lab coat. I heard whispering entering into the first exam room so I grabbed my stethoscope and walked into the room,

"Hey Angela, how's it going Harold?" I asked, shaking their hands before going over the sink to wash my hands, grinning when I saw George,

"Hey little man! Mama and Dada tell me you fought like a little champ!" I exclaimed and he giggled.

"Angela would you mind sitting with him on the exam bed so I can remove his eye patch?"

She nodded and sat on the bed, and I took his eye patch off. I was relieved, the surgeon did a fantastic job. The report said that there had been no issues and George would be making a full recovery.

"Well what Doctor Blue told you was correct. Judging by his healing time, your little man isn't going to have any idea a couple months from now that he had eye surgery."

"Oh my gosh, thank you so much." Angela said, using one arm to give me a hug. I grinned and gently patted her arm but I didn't return the hug. Even Harold gave me a tight hug, and this one I had no choice but to return,

"Thank you so much for saving our little boy."

"You're both more than welcome. I'd like to schedule a follow up for two weeks, but this will have to be with my colleague Doctor Cross."

"Doctor Cross? But what about you?"

"I'll be back home for the next little while, for the next three weeks or so. I can assure you Doctor Cross is one of the best, he trained me." I said with a smile and they both looked at each other before nodding,

"Okay, enjoy your time at home, we'll see you when you get back."

The majority of my day was the same, a bunch of check ups, shots, and of course a few false alarms. Unfortunately though, working with children and newborns you get the sad cases that make me want to lock myself in my office and cry. Half the time I do.

A little girl named Sky was the first patient I'd ever treated. After careful consideration, numerous tests and second opinions, I had to tell her parents that she had stage four leukaemia. Things got worse when I learned that they had basically put themselves into debt to get a baby- years of fertility treatments and shots, just for their baby girl to get sick.

Just as I sat down in my office for lunch, Doctor Cross knocked on the door before coming in and sitting across from me,

"I just got of the phone with the hospital… I'm sorry Ponyboy but Sky passed away a few minutes ago."

I took my glasses off and leaned back in my chair, rubbing my face. I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees, covering my face. I willed myself not to cry, but every time I told myself 'don't' all I could picture were her little black curls, the gap in her smile because her two front teeth were missing. Doctor Cross came over and rubbed my back. He kept telling me not to get attached to patients but it was hard, they were little kids being pulled from life way too quickly.

I became close to Sky too quickly and she reminded me so much of my niece- Ivy. Ivy was only four years old, the same length red hair, the same gap in her front teeth when she passed away from a car accident. It absolutely destroyed Soda and his wife. Hell it destroyed all of us.

"I'm very sorry Ponyboy… I know she reminded you of Ivy… I'm so sorry." I wiped my eyes and took a shaky breath,

"Thank you Doctor Cross… I'm sorry."

"Son, don't ever be sorry for crying when a child dies. This isn't easy work, I told you that when I took you on for your co-op. You're bound to get attached to patients, they're adorable children that are growing into their personalities. Sometimes you need to get attached so you can bond to the patient better, understand their pain and their parents pain. I'll finish up the rest of your appointments, go and see your family."

I nodded, taking my lab coat off, "Thank you sir. I'll see you when I return."

"I'll see you then. Oh, Ponyboy?" He said as I walked out, I stopped and turned around,

"Enjoy the time off. You've worked non stop for me since I hired you and I'm grateful, but you need to rest." I smiled and nodded before leaving. I called Audrey once I got into my car,

"Hey babe," She said, and I smiled,

"Hey gorgeous. How's your day going?"

"Good, just getting into the house from the park with the girls. How's your day going?"

"I'm actually done for the day, I'm heading home."

"Oh… Is everything okay?" She asked quietly. God bless this woman, she knew everything about me, every little detail.

"Sky… Sky passed away an hour ago."

"Oh… Pony I'm so sorry." She said softly, and I took a deep breath,

"It's… I'm going to come home… Maybe we can head to Tulsa sooner than we thought?"

"Yeah that sounds good to me babe."

When I got home my Border Collie Scarlett met me at the front door, her butt wiggling like crazy as she greeted me. I grinned and knelt down to pat her and kiss her head, beside Audrey and my daughters she always made me feel better. Audrey's Golden Retriever puppy Cookie came bounding over from the living room. I could hear my girls giggling and a couple seconds later Madeline came running over, her dark brown hair in lopsided pigtails.

"Dada!" She squealed, running into my arms. I picked her up and kissed her head, hugging her rather tightly.

"Hello baby, did you have a fun time at the park?" She nodded and wrapped her arms around my neck, starting to talk a mile a minute- a trait she picked up on from her mother and I. Audrey walked out from the living room holding our daughter Harrison. Madeline was three, and she was a surprise to Audrey and I. We hadn't been trying, we were not in a good place three years ago- each of us starting our careers and we were trying to buy a house. However, besides Audrey, Madeline was the best thing that happened to me- and then Harrison came along. Harrison was a year and a half old, with my grey/green eyes and Audrey's dark chestnut hair. I grinned as I watched Audrey walk over, holding Harrison. God I missed Audrey, we hadn't had "alone" time in almost two years. Maddie kept talking before she yawned, and I noticed Harrison quietly sitting in Audrey's arms, looking like she was trying to fight sleep. I gave Audrey a look, and she noticed that the girls were getting tired.

"Nap time!" I said, taking Madeline into her bedroom, changing her into her pajama's. She fell asleep rather quickly and I went into my room where Audrey was already waiting, rubbing her hands on her jeans nervously.

She came over, wrapping her arms around my neck as she kissed me. An hour later she fell beside me, panting hard.

Audrey and I met in university, we were both in medical school. I guess you could say it was love at first sight, we saw each other and naturally just started talking, and I suppose we never stopped. We bonded together over many (mostly stressful) nights in various student lounges and libraries.

I looked at Audrey and saw that she had fallen asleep so I moved out from under her and went to our ensuite to get a shower. When I was finished I heard my phone vibrating in my pants pocket, so I dug through my pants and pulled it out, and I saw that Soda was calling,

"Hey Soda, how's it going?"

"Great! Ah, post sex huh?"

"W-What?" I stammered, wondering how he knew. He chuckled and I could picture him rolling his eyes,

"Trust me kid, everyone has that dazed sounding voice."

"Oh… Well then yeah."

"Damn I bet that felt great, what was it, two years?"

"Yeah… It really did. Two years wasn't that long. What was the longest you and Presley went without sex?"

"Like six months. And when we started again, we didn't leave our room for a week."

"Well I'm jealous… The girls will be up any minute and then we gotta drive to your place."

"I'll tell you what, Presley and I will take the kids for the day and you can have the room to yourselves."

"That… That sounds fantastic."

"Alright, well I just wanted to ask that you keep me posted on your ETA, we were going to head to Darry's house to greet everyone when they got there."

"Go ahead, we'll meet you there. Do you mind texting me the address? I don't know that I remember how to get there."

"Of course kiddo. See you later,"

"Okay, bye Soda." I sat on the bed and started wondering how different things would be- with Johnny and Dally coming home after almost fifteen years.

Johnny himself had changed. When we said our goodbyes after high school he was a quiet kid, it was hard for any of us to get through to him. I could tell he didn't want to leave to go to Maine, but a free ride for paramedic program doesn't come along very often.

Then when we heard from him some time later he'd already been wrapped around Elena's finger. I know it scared a lot of us how quickly he'd fallen for this girl and how quickly they'd become inseparable, and when we were waiting to pick them up at the airport for the first time we were all ready to give Johnny shit for not thinking clearly. But then we saw them walk through the gate and I think we all one by one realized that this wasn't a joke or some kind of puppy love. This was the kind of love you see in movies or read about in books, the kind that Mom and Dad had. Nothing in the world could ever change their love for one another.

"What time is it?" Audrey asked softly, rubbing her eyes. I looked over, wondering how long she'd been awake for.

"About two sweetheart."

"Okay… I'm going to get a shower… I was thinking that we could treat the girls to lunch out and just eat on the road?"

I nodded and got dressed, starting to move our luggage from our rooms into the back of Audrey's Range Rover. I woke the girls up and got them dressed, letting them play in the living room while I packed the rest of Scarlett's food and most of Cookie's food.

Audrey came down in a nice dress, her hair pulled back into a pony tail. She kissed me softly before we buckled the kids into the car and put the dogs in, starting our long drive back home.


	5. Chapter 5

Steve

"Okay you've got three cars in at nine, two need a brake job and one needs an alignment, you've got the 86 Firebird in at ten for the engine replacement, and then at eleven you've got the pick up coming in to get the back end replaced." Tessa said, writing it all down on the white board. My mechanics all nodded, each job was written in a different colour according to the difficulty, if an apprentice could take it or if they had to be helping someone else.

"Also, we need to start wearing the uniforms boys. You all voted on the type, colour, and material, so there's no excuses not to be wearing them. I've gained fifty pounds and I still wear mine and most of the time people don't even see me. Do I need to remind you all that there is still absolutely no smoking in the shop," She looked directly at me before continuing, "Or in the office. The break room and outside are your only places allowable."

The boys nodded again, most of them mumbling sorry. Tessa was my business partner, but I let her handle everything outside of the shop, which meant appointments, scheduling, finances, and ordering. Most of the boys however, saw her more as a sister or a Mom, a lot of these kids were from the same side of the tracks that Tessa and I were. I still found it hard to believe that I owned and ran the biggest shop in Tulsa and the surrounding areas: when I started my shop I had two hoists and an office/ break room. Now we had ten hoists, over twenty mechanics, and top of the line equipment.

"I shouldn't have to constantly remind you guys about the smoking." She said, rubbing her huge bump. "Unless you want me to completely ban smoking, stay in the areas that we've elected to smoke in. I don't want my baby having brain damage or any problems because of cigarette smoke."

Again they nodded and apologized, before she informed us that we'd be getting a shipment in of chemical and that either myself or the assistant manager needed to be there to sign and to move it. We had a very strict procedure when it came to chemicals, but it saved us from anyone accidentally injuring themselves.

"Finally, starting next week I won't be around as often. I've decided to take some time off before the baby comes, but don't think I won't still hear these things. I'll be dropping in unexpectedly, not even Steve will know when I'll be coming by. We're running a business here, not a frat house. Understood?" They all nodded and went to start the days work. The newest apprentice waited behind as I'd asked him to, and I escorted him upstairs to the office, behind Tessa. We sat down with him and Tessa leaned forward,

"Andrew, I'm very sorry to tell you this but we're going to have to let you go."

"What?!" He exclaimed, clenching his fists together.

"You've been given three warnings… Two for unsafe behaviour and one for in-orderly conduct. There have been several occasions work has become unsafe not only for yourself but for others around you… There have been numerous occasions you've come into work intoxicated or used recreational drugs on the job and that will not be tolerated."

He grit his teeth and stood up abruptly, swiping the numerous papers and picture frames off her desk, slamming his fists down, causing her to jump. I jumped up and pulled him back, the assistant manager, Collin, coming up to help me escort Andrew out.

God I hated that my reflexes were slowing down. I hated that I let him get far enough to scare her like that- her last boyfriend had been abusive and it had taken her a long time to get used to working around my guys, much less feel comfortable around them. However when all of the guys came up one by one to make sure she was okay and help her gather the papers I could tell that she still trusted the rest of us.

"Get started on the work, I'll be down in a minute." I told Collin and he nodded,

"Take your time Steve." I nodded and went over to give Kasey a hug. I could feel her trembling softly and I kissed her head,

"Shh… I'm right here Theresa… It's me, Steve." After a couple minutes she slowly stopped trembling, hugging me tighter. This was how some of our embraces were spent. Either I was consoling her, or sometimes after severe nightmares she'd console me. I still had flashbacks of serving in the war, and that was almost fourteen years ago.

"We've got two interviews today to take Andrew's spot…" She said softly, resting her head on my chest.

I nodded, rubbing her back, "Okay, just let me know when you want me up here babe." She kissed me softly. I heard her phone buzz and I knew it was probably her Mom- she babysat Julian during the time that he wasn't at school. He was in kindergarten but only in the half day program.

She nodded and started rearranging her desk and I went down to work.

"You excited the baby is on their way?" Collin asked, looking over from the tool shop. I nodded and grabbed what I'd need to start replacing the rear end,

"Yeah… They just grow too fast you know?"

He nodded, "Before you know it, your little girl is sixteen and wanting to go to prom with a guy that's two years older than her."

I grinned, "Linda got a boyfriend?" He grinned and shrugged,

"Boyfriend, boy toy, same thing." He said, he was the oldest at the shop, being almost forty two years old.

I laughed and shook my head, going to my work bench to double check I had the necessary parts. I'd be doing the rear end myself, even though I knew Tessa was already leaving early to go and see Olivia.

I heard my name being paged over the PA a couple hours later and I wiped my hands off, grabbing a rag to wipe the sweat off of my face. I went into the office and saw Tessa talking to a younger looking person with a short hair cut, whatever hair was long enough was in a pony tail.

"Steve, this is Sara. Sara, this is my husband Steve, he runs the shop part of the business." She turned and smiled at me, shaking my hand,

"Nice to meet you."

"You as well," I said, dragging a chair to sit beside Tessa while she started the interview. I was here to listen to her response and judge how technical it was, then we had a small test that was conducted on a work bench outside the office so we could gauge their skill level. After her interview was over I brought her out to perform the test, before saying good bye and letting her know that we'd call her with our choice.

"So what did you think?" Tessa asked and I sat beside her, reaching over to rub her bump,

"I don't know babe….Do you think she could fit in with these guys? I don't want to hire her and then she can't handle it and she quits."

"Well… I mean she has the best resume and people skills… I've had two other interviews already and none were as personable or as smart as her."

I looked over at Tessa and I could tell that she was excited that we might be hiring the first girl to work in the shop,

"Fine… Give the girl a call and see If she can be in tomorrow morning for eight." She grinned happily and nodded, standing up to kiss me,

"I'm going to call her and then I'm going out for lunch with Olivia."

"Okay babe. Will you be back?"

She checked her watch before shaking her head, "I don't think so, Mom has an appointment and I told her I'd pick Julian up so that she could make it on time. What did you want for dinner?"

"It's upto you baby, you cooking?" I shrugged,

"I'd prefer not to, I feel like a whale."

"Okay, I'll pick something up for dinner then. Text me and let me know if you want anything."

She smiled and nodded, getting her keys before going to her car.

Tessa

I met Olivia at our favourite coffee shop, on main street. I was happy to see that she already had a booth, I could not stand sitting in a wooden chair. I walked in holding Julian's hand, Mom called me on my way over and said her appointment was moved up so I had to pick him up earlier than I thought.

"Hey!" Olivia said, standing up to give me a hug before picking Julian up. He giggled and wrapped his arms around her neck, squealing when Olivia told him that she had bought him a muffin. I smiled,

"Thanks Ollie, how are things going?" I asked, pulling out my own drink that I'd made at home (apple juice and sparking water).

She smiled, "Really good, Two-bit and I bought a house!"

"Oh my gosh honey that's fantastic!" I said, eating a snack that I packed. She smiled and rested her head on her hand, running her fingers through Julian's hair. Steve and I had a two bedroom apartment close to the shop, but it was on the lower end of 'middle class' territory. We were hoping that we would have been able to afford something by the time we had this baby but it wasn't looking that way. At this point it was too late to move.

"Yeah, I mean it was kind of above the budget of what we wanted to spend but… I doubt we're going to be having a baby so… Why not get a nice house and then start the adoption process?"

"Olivia… Have you been to the doctor recently?" I asked, eyeing as she ate a weird combination of snacks and had a hand subconsciously resting on her stomach.

"No, there's been no need. He said to wait until I'd taken drug store tests and I'd gotten a positive… So far they've all been negative."

"Ollie… Don't take this the wrong way but I think you're pregnant."

"Don't Tessa… Don't."

"Olivia I'm serious… You've been gaining weight, your boobs are getting bigger… Hell you've been peeing every fifteen minutes and you're eating cream cheese and a chocolate chip muffin. When was the last time you had a period?"

"Oh… Oh my god…"

"I'm not a doctor so I can't say for sure… But I think you should go to the doctors."

She swallowed hard, "I… I can't get his hopes up again Tess… It breaks his heart every time. All he wants is to be a father and for all the time we've been together I've done nothing but disappoint him. What kind of wife am I? I can't even give my husband the thing he wants most."

"Olivia… It's not you. Okay? Sometimes these things take time… I mean we got pregnant with Julian after a try and then we had to try for two years for another baby because of all the stress."

"I don't even know if we can afford a baby now… With spending what we did on a house."

"Well… That's why Steve and I haven't left our apartment. When we moved in there we weren't planning to stay there and have two kids… We were counting on spending a year there and then move out."

She nodded and took a deep breath, "Okay… Okay."

"Trust me Ollie… If there's anything I know about having a baby… The timing is never right."

We sat quietly before the door opened and I saw my ex boyfriend walk in. My hands immediately started trembling and Olivia took them in hers quickly. I really hoped that Matthew wouldn't notice me. He was full of tattoo's, and not just a sleeve like Steve had. Matthew had both arms, his legs, and most of his body tattooed.

"He's just grabbing a coffee… He hasn't seen you yet." Olivia whispered, and I brought my hair over my shoulder to cover my face. I had heard he'd gotten out of jail but I didn't think he'd stay in Tulsa. He had been the second in command of a local gang, The Tiber Street Tigers. But that was almost sixteen years ago… I dated him for a couple years before Olivia and the rest of my family had helped me get the strength to file a restraining order and press charges.

Thankfully our family had the money for a lawyer where he didn't and he ended up serving almost fifteen years. Just as he was about to walk out Olivia whispered,

"Shit." My heart started pounding and her grip tightened.

"Well, well, well. How have you been, Tessa?" He asked, and without even looking at him I could tell he was sneering. I couldn't talk, my throat felt swallowed and I couldn't look up at him.

"Fuck off Matthew." A by stander said, and I looked up to see Tim Shepherd standing there. Steve came in immediately after and came over, standing beside Tim,

"Get out of here Matthew before we make you." Tim said, crossing his arms. He rolled his eyes before walking away. Olivia stood up and Steve helped me stand up,

"Come on… Let's get you home and in a nice warm bath." I nodded and he brought Julian and I out to the car, bringing us to our apartment. Steve helped me undress and get into the bath, and he left the door open while he and Julian played with some toy cars in the hallway.

Part of me wanted to ask my parents for a loan to buy a better place, a house for that matter so the kids could have a yard to play in. The only place we could afford was the east side and we didn't want to be anywhere near that neighbourhood. I knew it would definitely be tight with two kids and Steve and I, and I knew if we had a girl we'd have to move, we couldn't have her and Julian sharing a room for the next eighteen years.

Steve helped me out of the bath and we went to the couch and put a movie on for Julian. Steve wrapped his arm around me and held me close to him, Julian sitting contently between us. Steve wrapped his arm in front of Julian and rested his hand on my bump protectively.


	6. Chapter 6

Sodapop

Like every morning I woke up before my alarm, around four in the morning. My wife Presley was still asleep beside me but I knew that she would be up soon after. I decided that today I couldn't stay in bed longer than usual, Pony would be here later today with Audrey, Johnny and his wife would be landing, and Dallas and his girl would be here around supper time. Just as I was about to get out of bed Presley started waking up, rubbing her eyes gently.

"Morning," I whispered, leaning over to kiss her softly. She kissed me back, holding my head. I pulled away gently and kissed her forehead. God she looked beautiful, her red hair resting beside her in the normal curls her hair had.

She kissed me again, rolling over so her head was resting against my chest, her ring catching some of the light from my alarm clock. I rubbed her back softly, wrapping my other arm around her waist.

 _Our love story had been one from the books- after things had settled down in Tulsa I realized that even though I enjoyed being a mechanic, working at a gas station auto shop wasn't enough for me anymore. For almost a week I sat around the house while two of my friends and my brother had left to pursue their dreams. I started looking online at jobs available, it took almost two years before I came across an ad that was asking for farm hands. It was the next small town over, Kellyville. I called to see if the job was still available and it was, so I went for an interview the next day. The job came with housing and meals, but I didn't exactly know if I wanted to stay there or commute back and forth every day. Kellyville was only roughly 21 miles away so it wouldn't take too long._

 _When I got there the next morning I met the farmer, his wife, and their children who were all roughly my age. However, his daughter had been the most beautiful girl that I'd ever seen. I could tell that she had a thing for me too, since I pulled up in our old pick up._

 _They had shown me around, described the duties of the job, before Mr. Knowles had requested that Presley show me around the property. She took me into the barn and we suited up two of the horses and we left on horseback so I could see the property. Half the property was grass for the horses, the other half was crops that we sold at local farmers markets. We had a garden by the main house that we used for our own vegetables and other small farm animals such as chicken and pigs._

 _About three weeks later I asked Presley out, I'd been living with her family since the second day I started working there. I realized that it had been to hard to be at the barn for four in the morning, finish working at ten at night, drive home, get washed up, and go to bed. Darry had suggested that I move in there, but to be honest I think it was so he could have the house to himself and his wife._

 _I had taken Presley on a date in Tulsa, I wanted to bring her to a drag race- she'd never seen one before. However we ended up going to the rodeo instead. She had a blast and the rest was pretty much history. We got married after about dating a year and a half, and that's when our lucked turned around for the worse._

 _Being in our young twenties we wanted to start trying for children- that way if we wanted to grow our family later on we would still be young enough. For the first year we didn't try consciously, though we had the house to ourselves and we… kept busy._

 _Then after two years she got pregnant but the baby didn't make it to the second term. We took it hard, but we started trying again after getting clearance from the doctor. The second baby we had was a rare case- Presley miscarried in her second term. Then for a couple months we stopped trying, and pushed the thought of having a baby out of our minds. Then for the third time she got pregnant, we lost that baby as well._

 _We decided to have tests done to see if there was a problem that we could fix. The results came back and said that we were both healthy. This broke our hearts- it meant there should be no reason that we'd lost three children. So for a couple years we decided to put a pause on starting a family and go back to using protection. Then after two years we decided that we were in a better place- the business was making more of a profit and most of the stress in our life was gone. So we started trying again, and this time the pregnancy stuck. We took every precaution there was, she was on bed rest for the entire nine months, we talked business sometimes but anything that could cause her to stress about I didn't tell her. Her parents moved back in to help take care of the animals and take care of her. Then after what felt like the longest nine months of my life we had a beautiful baby girl- Ivy Marie._

 _Things went perfectly with her, and about a year and a half later we welcomed twin boys into our world, Forrest Henry and River Patrick. For what felt like a blessed three years I got the privilege of raising my family the way I always pictured- with the most beautiful woman by my side, with rolling hills and nothing but farm life to see._

 _When Ivy turned three she started getting terrible nightmares and the only way we could calm her down was to drive. So whenever I heard her start crying I'd grab the keys, carry her to the truck and drive to one of the open fields off the highway. There she could see all the stars, but the lights from the freeway and cars going by also comforted her- she hated the complete darkness. Once she had calmed down and I told her a story we got back into the truck and started the quick drive home. I used the hands free in the farm truck to text Presley that we were on our way back and then all I can remember was glancing in my rear view mirror, smiling when I saw Ivy asleep in her car seat. Then it suddenly got extremely bright and everything went black._

 _I woke up two days later in Tulsa General, my neck in a brace and my leg was in a cast, I could feel that my body had numerous sets of stitches. My head felt like it had been pounded in with a cement truck and I looked around, trying to adjust to the bright lights. When I saw Presley and Darry sleeping beside me it didn't take long to remember what had happened. I cleared my throat and used the button at my side for a nurse, who came right in following a doctor. He slowly examined me before taking the neck brace off. Upon all the commotion my beautiful wife and my brother had woken up, and I could tell something was very wrong when my wife started crying._

 _"I.. I-Ivy?" I asked, my mouth had been very dry. She started crying harder and Darry held her tightly, and I looked at the doctor, he swallowed hard,_

 _"Sir… I'm very sorry but… Your daughter passed away in the accident." My whole world felt like it had stopped spinning. My daughter… My beautiful little girl had been ripped from my life and it was all my fault._

 _"When emergencies services made it to the scene… You were holding your daughter in her last moments… Her neck was broken so she wasn't in any pain… But by the time paramedics had gotten to her… It was too late. I'm so sorry." The doctor said, and I completely broke. The memories came flooding back, a slideshow in my mind of her entire life up until she passed away in my arms. I couldn't do it. For three months my body and mind shut it's self down. I went through the motions of work, after all these years I could probably do it in my sleep. I stopped caring for Presley and stopped paying any attention to my boys._

 _God bless this woman. She somehow managed to talk me into therapy, for myself and for the both of us. Now before I didn't believe that someone needed to know our problems to get them fixed- but therapy had made me realize that I lost a big part of my heart and world that I'd never get back. But where I blamed myself, Presley didn't blame me. I'd been doing exactly what Ivy needed, trying to calm her after a night terror… And then comforting her in her utmost time of need. With therapy I learned how to love again, I learned how to talk to Presley, confide in her, and most of all I learned how to move on._

 _It hadn't been easy, Presley and I had a lot of fights and I knew that she had wanted to give up- but she didn't. She fought to stay with me and I'll never ever thank her enough for that._

Currently, Presley was four months pregnant. Barely showing but we both decided that we were ready for another baby- to make our family a family of five again.

"Did you sleep okay?" I asked, running my fingers through her hair. She nodded, kissing my chest softly,

"Yeah... I just wish I could sleep longer." I kissed her softly,

"I've got the chores this morning, sleep in. You need it baby… You're growing our little baby in side of you." She nodded and closed her eyes and I waited for her to fall asleep before getting out of bed. I pushed my pillows gently towards her, so she could still have my scent and could hopefully have a longer sleep than the normal six hours. I got downstairs to pull on my boots and I saw my father in law sitting at the table drinking his coffee.

"Morning Sodapop. I've got the chores this morning, you go back upstairs and be with my daughter." I swallowed hard and nodded. Today marked one year since Ivy had passed away. Today would be hard, on all accounts, but at the same time it was going to be easy. I'd come to terms with the fact that she wasn't in pain, and she was up there with my parents looking down on us. We missed her more than anything but for whatever reason another angel was needed- and that was our little girl.

"Thanks Dad." With that I went into my sons' room and picked them up one by one, bringing them into our bed. I knew that these little guys would make my day easier, they were so different from each other and so full of life that half the time it's hard to believe that I made them. Both of our boys had strawberry blond hair, a mix of Presley's red hair and my blond hair. Forrest had my dark brown eyes, while River had Presley's hazel eyes. They were identical, but a rare case where they had different colour eyes. Forrest was my little buddy, whenever he had the chance he loved to be helping me around the animals and he loved it when I taught him about some of the duties we did. River was interested in the equestrian side of things but he loved helping my mother and brother in laws with the crops. Forrest tended to soak in every bit of information he could, where as River wanted to learn things for himself (and for the hard way).

Presley and I also decided that we wanted our boys home schooled, her Mom being a retired school teacher it seemed it would be the best idea. She could focus on each of our boys independently, helping them learn in different ways. River was already like I was towards school, he hated learning unless it was with his hands. Forrest was more like Presley and Ponyboy, he went nuts learning new things.

We all woke up a couple hours later, Presley woke up before me and she had her arm wrapped around the twins as they slept between us. I turned on my side and wrapped my arm around my family, reaching to kiss each of their heads.

"I thought you had work?" She asked quietly and I shook my head,

"Your dad covered me this morning." She nodded and we laid there quietly before I noticed the time. I knew we had to get up and start preparing the spare bedroom for Pony and Audrey, and while Johnny and Elena were here with their girls we were going to offer them the basement apartment downstairs- it was a three bedroom fully furnished apartment and I knew it would be easier on them than staying in a hotel.

I got up and brought the boys downstairs while Presley got a shower. I grinned when I saw that Rebecca (Presley's mom) had a freshly baked chocolate cake on the table and she was making french toast. I kissed her head and hugged her,

"Thank you Mom." She hugged me back and rubbed my back,

"You're very welcome honey." We all sat and started eating, Presley came down in one of my sweatshirts and a pair of jeans, we'd most likely head into Tulsa with the boys to greet everyone before bringing Johnny and his family back. I kissed her softly, and she stood beside me so I rested my head against her.

"How did you sleep?" Her Mom asked her and she smiled,

"Really good, I feel really rested."

"Good," She said, coming over and kissing her head. Our plan was to head into Tulsa, go to the graveyard where Ivy was buried on our way into Tulsa and then see my family. After I finished eating I went back upstairs to change and shave.

I pulled on my jeans and a flannel, calling the boys upstairs so I could get them dressed. We usually let them pick their own outfits, while it was cute having them matching when they were babies we didn't want to force them to look alike.

They both chose to wear jeans and flannel and I didn't even realize until we got downstairs that they wanted to match with me. I grinned and rubbed their head affectionately, before grabbing the keys to the truck. We left, just before we got out of Kellyville we stopped in at the graveyard. We paid a little extra for a premium lot- right next to a willow tree. I went over first, I wanted some time alone before Presley and the boys came over.

"Hi baby girl… I hope everything is going good." I said softly, sitting in front of her tombstone. I put a small teddy bear down, "I can't believe it's been a year since we lost you… It feels like it's been so much longer. I'm… I'm still so sorry that I couldn't save you… And I know you weren't in any pain but God Ivy… I miss you so much little girl. I'm sorry I haven't been back in the last couple of weeks… Your uncles are all coming back… I'm sure you'd have love to play with Uncle Johnny's girl Easton… She would have been the same age as you baby." I heard footsteps behind me, Presley sat beside me and each of the boys sat in my lap.

"We miss you sweetheart… So so much." Presley said softly, taking my hand tightly. I sniffled and squeezed her hand tightly. She leaned over and kissed me softly but I felt her bottom lip start trembling and her shoulders start shaking. I wrapped my arm around her tightly and tried to stay strong for her. It wasn't long after she broke down that I did too. I'd hoped to stay strong today but how could I?

The twins each moved to give us a hug, before proceeding to talk to Ivy as if she'd gone away on a trip and fill her in on everything she'd "missed". They moved off of our laps and took their bears and started playing with her bear and I hugged Presley tightly. I looked over at the other side of the graveyard and saw an older couple holding each other, I'd never spoken to them but I knew that they were the parents of the man that was drinking and crashed into my truck. After a few more minutes in silence we picked our stuff up and walked to the truck.

I called Johnny, I knew he'd be getting to the airport just about now, "Hey! I just wanted to let you know that one of us is going to pick you up from the airport, I'm just not sure who yet."

"Okay, well we should be there in five hours." He said, I could tell he sounded exhausted.

"Alright, sounds good man. See you then."

"See you later."

When we pulled up to Darry's house mostly everyone was already there, he said he'd heard from Dallas and he would get there shortly, they'd left the hotel very early in the morning.

"Hey man!" Steve said from the porch where he was smoking his cigarette.

"Don't forget you can't be doing any of that around the girls that are pregnant."

He rolled his eyes playfully, "No kidding?" I smirked and playfully punched his shoulder before going inside. The twins eagerly ran in to play with Darrel junior (DJ) who was ten. Even though there was a six year age gap between them DJ seemed to love playing with them (his only other playmate half the time was his younger sister Josie who was five). Charolette smiled when she saw us come in and came over to hug us.

Charolette was Darry's wife and the main real estate agent at his company. They'd been married for twelve years and if I remember correctly they ended up rekindling at a local coffee shop in Tulsa.

"Soda, Presley, hey." She said, kissing my head and Presley's.

"Hey Char, the place looks amazing," I said, noticing that the house had been rearranged to fit more people.

"Thank you, I know that we're having most of the people over here so I knew we needed to rearrange so we could maximize space and seating."

"Awesome. We're thinking of offering the basement apartment to Johnny to give him some more space than a hotel."

"Well Darry and I were going to offer the in law house to Dallas and Johnny, so it doesn't get crowded at your place," She said, Presley nodded,

"We didn't even think about that. Great idea.. We've got the room for Dallas and his fiancée, there's a spare room on the main floor. Pony and Audrey are going to take the spare room upstairs."

Being a company that used to offer housing, the main house had about nine bedrooms. Four upstairs, two on the main floor, and three in the basement. Then there was also a house across the driveway that was only a two bedroom, one bathroom place that her parents lived in.

Just then we heard arguing coming from one of the rooms and Charolette sighed, "Steve must have gone back in… Tessa went to lay down after she and Steve argued for half an hour… They're having problems with the apartment."

"What about?" Presley asked quietly,

"I think the whole money thing… It's looking like Tessa may need a c-section and they're… Well from the sounds of it, with the cost of that and everything else they're going to need they won't be able to afford their mortgage. Her family isn't going to help them out at all and while the business is going great for Steve he still has a lot to pay for."

Presley looked at me and I nodded, so we went over and knocked on the door,

"What?" Steve asked irritably. I rolled my eyes and opened the door. Tessa was sitting on the bed rubbing her bump and it looked like she had been crying. Steve was standing looking out of the window with his arms crossed.

"Hey… So we kinda couldn't help but over hear your fight… And we have a solution."

"What? You won the lottery?" Steve said bitterly.

"No," Presley said gently, sitting beside Tessa and taking her hand,

"We still have the three bedroom apartment in the basement at our place… We don't feel comfortable renting it out to someone we don't know so… If you guys would like, the place is yours- rent free."

"W-We… We can't accept that." Tessa said softly, wiping her eyes.

"Yes you can… Steve, I've owed you everything. When money was tight you bought me lunch… You gave Darry money when you thought no one was looking. Consider this my thank you for helping us when Mom and Dad died. I don't want any money for the place, if you don't take it it's just going to collect dust."

Steve swallowed hard and turned around, giving me a tight hug.

"Thank you so much…" He whispered quietly.

"Of course… Sell your condo and we'll start moving you guys in as soon as possible okay? Get everything settled in before the baby comes." He nodded and I saw Tessa start crying again as she hugged Presley.

 **Big thanks to everyone for reading, favoriting/following, and of course, thank you everyone for the reviews!**


	7. Chapter 7

Darry

I sat at the airport, close to the terminal that Johnny could be coming from. I couldn't believe that he was coming back to Tulsa- never mind that he'd made his own family. That's something we'd always hoped for Johnny but we never thought that it would be with a girl like Elena- we thought it would be a girl that took charge. I felt my phone vibrate in my pants and I dug it out to see a picture of my wife and our children so I grinned,

"Hello gorgeous."

I heard her giggle, "Hi baby, I just wanted to let you know that Sodapop is here and Pony just pulled up. Any word from Johnny?"

"Not yet babe-" Just as I said that they called that Johnny's flight had landed, "Never mind they just called his flight number. I'd better go, did you need me to pick anything up on the way home?"

"We need some coffee, and if you stop by the bakery in town and pick up something for dessert… And condoms."

I grinned, "I'm sorry, what was that last thing?"

I heard her tsk me and I could picture her rolling her eyes grinning, "You heard me Darrel,"

"Oh, you said condoms? Hm… Did you want the 'ribbed for her pleasure'? Or the 'studded' ones?"

"Both," She said and I grinned widely,

"Sounds great babe." I hung up, standing up to walk closer to the exit where Johnny and his family would be coming from.

I felt my phone vibrate and I looked down to see a text from Charolette- a picture. I opened it and grinned, this woman would be the death of me. She sent me a nude photo. I grinned and went to find one that I had taken earlier in the week and I sent it back.

 _I remember seeing her again, almost eight years after graduating high school. All throughout high school we'd been in similar friend groups but I'd never grown the courage to ask her out. Then when I woke up one morning super late for a huge construction meeting I decided to grab a coffee on my way to the office._

 _That's when she was in front of me and bought my coffee without knowing who was behind her. I managed to catch up to her and thank her for the coffee and then she recognized me,_

 _"Darrel, hey!"_

 _I grinned, "Char, how's it been?"_

 _"Good, I just got back home. How are you?"_

 _We ended up talking for almost an hour- I knew that I missed the meeting but fuck it- I asked her if she wanted to get dinner some time and she agreed, giving me her number_

 _I took her out to dinner that night, I'd asked her almost ten minutes after visiting if she wanted too. That night dinner felt like old friends, but there was something else there that night that I still can't pin point._

 _"So, I want to know what this is. Is this a dinner between old friends or.. Or a date?" She asked, after we were finished dinner and waiting for dessert._

 _"Well… To be honest I was hoping that it was a date… I've.. I've liked you for a really long time Charolette and those feelings never went away after high school."_

 _She smiled softly and took my hand, "I.. I was really hoping that this was a date too Darry… I've actually missed you all these years." I grinned and moved closer to her in the booth, cupping her face before kissing her._

 _After we shared our desserts we went out to my truck. We sat in silence a couple minutes before I looked over at her,_

 _"Would you like me to drop you off… Or did you want to come over?" I knew she was staying a hotel while she looked for somewhere to stay, part of me desperately wanted her to move in with me and rush into things._

 _"Well… I mean we could go back to your place."_

 _I smiled and took her hand, driving back home. At the time I was still in the East side, I was waiting to build my house until I was settled down. No point building a house that my future wife wouldn't like._

 _She followed me in closely, I could tell she was nervous of the neighbourhood. Sodapop, Steve, and Two-bit were sitting in the living room with a beer in their hands. Soda raised his eyebrow when he saw Charolette and Two-bit cracked a grin and wolf whistled,_

 _"Getting some action tonight superman?"_

 _"That's none of your business." I said, taking Charolette into my room._

 _"Is that… Is that what you had in mind for tonight?"_

 _"No, not at all… To be honest I don't like the motel you're staying in… I know that it's no nicer than here but here… There's there's three guys that will protect you."_

 _"Are… Darrel are you asking me to move in with you?"_

 _"I mean… Yes? I just… I just feel so protective of you and… I know we're rushing into things… Maybe it's really crazy…"_

 _"It… It is crazy but… Okay."_

 _Then after close to a year of dating we were engaged, and within our first couple months of being married we found out that Charolette was pregnant with our first. Besides my wedding day, the day that my son was born was the happiest day of my life._

 _Darrel Justin Curtis was born at three in the afternoon, on my birthday (making it by far the best birthday I've ever had). Now most of the people I know think that it's annoying for me to share the same birthday as my son- most of the attention on him and what not but I love it. I love us being able to share our days together- every year since he was born I've taken him to a football game to celebrate. Then, of course, I get my birthday present from Charolette when I get home that night._

 _Don't get me wrong, our marriage wasn't as picture perfect as some may think, we have a lot of arguments and tons of disagreements, but we both tend to follow a simple rule: we don't go to bed angry. No matter the fight, we put it on pause until the morning. It was a rule my parents had, which is part of the reason I think they were so in love._

I saw Johnny holding his youngest daughter as well as his wife's hand. Elena was holding Easton's hand and they were all grinning, Johnny was laughing and shaking his head.

I waved at them so they could see me and Easton came running over to give me a hug. I grinned and picked her up, giving Johnny a sideways hug before kissing Elena's head,

"How was the flight?"

Elena sighed, "Noisy, Ella wouldn't stop crying at all and so many of the passengers kept trying to yell at me… I don't know how Johnny managed to sleep through her crying."

He shrugged, "I've worked overtime all week, I'm pretty sure I could sleep through a hurricane."

I laughed and went with them to the baggage claim to grab their bags before taking them to the company truck. We started driving and I looked at Johnny who was sitting beside me,

"Do you mind if I make a couple stops? I have to grab some things for dinner and what not."

"Sure man," He said, "We need to pick some things up anyways, you have the room for a couple groceries?" I nodded,

"There's tons of room in the bed."

"Okay, thanks man." We pulled up at the local grocery store and we split up to grab what we needed, until I made it to the condom aisle at the same time as Johnny. He grinned,

"Well I can definitely say I never expected to be buying condoms next to you again." I laughed, remembering a day back when the boys were younger and I brought them to the grocery store to buy them each a pack of condoms- we really didn't need any mini-me's of the gang running around.

"I hear ya." I grabbed the two boxes that Char requested and Johnny got a variety pack- glow in the dark, warm up condoms, flavour, and pleasure shaped.

"You find those work good?" I asked, now debating if I should grab a pack of those too.

He nodded, "Depending on which condom we pick out kind of determines the mood. I mean glow in the dark tends to lead to a fun night where as warm up condoms are a more romantic night."

I nodded and grabbed a box of those too. We both started pushing our carts towards the check out where Elena was waiting with the girls, each of his daughters holding a stuffed animal. Elena smiled apologetically before putting them on the belt, and Johnny started putting their groceries on the belt. I went to a different cashier, hoping to be done at the same time at them.

When we got back into the truck Johnny looked over at me grinning, "We decided to move back home."

"That's awesome, it's going to be amazing having you guys so close to home again. Also, I know that staying in a hotel with two kids is little to no privacy… So if you'd like the in-law house at our place is yours for however long you'd like it. There's three bedrooms, a bathroom and a half bath off of the master and a kitchen."

"Thanks man, we really appreciate it."

When we pulled up I noticed mostly everyone's car there, thankfully we still had enough room to pull into the driveway,

"Let's bring the groceries in, we'll the rest of your stuff later."

They nodded in agreement and we took the groceries in, they helped me put away the things for dinner before we went outback. All of the guys started grinning and they got up to hug Johnny tightly,

"Man, it's been too long." Steve said, clapping Johnny's shoulder. He grinned and nodded,

"You guys remember my wife, Elena, and these are our daughters Easton and Eleanor."

All of the guys and most of the girls nodded- we had met Elena first when she had come to visit and then again at their wedding- which was absolutely huge and well.. Straight out of a magazine. Elena's family was one of the richest in Maine, and within the top thirty richest families of the states. We didn't know this until the wedding, where it became obvious (Johnny had all of us guys as groomsmen, and Elena also had seven bridesmaids, and DJ was their ring boy).

I smiled, re-introducing everyone to each other. Once everyone was introduced people went back to what they were doing- swimming, chatting, or in Soda's case playing 3 against 1 football with DJ and his twins. Pony came over and gave me a tight hug and I grinned, hugging him back tightly,

"How's it going kiddo? You look great," I said, ruffling his hair. He laughed and playfully swatted my arm away,

"It's going good, the drive down was a little slower than I wanted but we made it so that's all that matters." Usually Pony and I talked on the phone once a week if not more, I liked to keep in touch with with him being so far away. I saw the rest of the gang at least once a week, every Saturday they came over for dinner and to watch the game.

We kept chatting about kids and jobs before we heard a truck pull up.

"We're in the back!" I called, knowing it was Dallas. I heard the latch being pulled on the gate and our dog, Jake, started barking. Because Jake started barking all of the other dogs among the family did as well.

"Jake, enough." I said, pointing down so he laid at my feet. I didn't want this dog- the kids begged me to get him and I ended up doing everything with the damn dog. Dallas walked in, holding a case of beer on his shoulder and Beth followed closely behind. We could tell that she was nervous, I mean as far as she knew none of these guys besides Johnny and I knew about her.

"Hey Dal," I said, taking the case of beer from him and putting it on the table. He shook my hand before I pulled him in for a hug, smiling at Beth,

"You must be Beth, I don't know how you put up with him," I said grinning. She grinning and shrugged,

"I don't either." Dally rolled his eyes playfully and placed a protective arm around her waist.

"Alright Beth, we've got a lot of introductions to do," I said, before starting to place a name to every face she saw-including the dogs. She smiled happily when she recognized Elena and Johnny, and I was glad she at least knew someone here besides Dallas. Elena took Beth back over to where most of the girls were sitting and chatting while Dallas came to sit in the lounge chairs with us guys (except for Soda who looked to be having the time of his life playing football).

"So what do you do now?" I asked, looking at Dallas as he opened a beer,

"I'm a plumber," He said, before taking a swig,

"Really? Damn," Two-bit said, just as surprised as the rest of us,

"Yeah really, bartender doesn't pay enough."

"Well I mean if you're ever thinking of moving back here I'm looking for a plumber." I said, just throwing the idea out there.

"Well I may have to take you up on that offer… Beth and I are moving back here."

"Wow, that's great man. Alright we'll talk business later." He nodded and they looked at Dallas,

"So what does your girl do? She got a pretty big rock on her finger," Steve said and Dallas grinned,

"She's a cop. Yeah, I gave her a budget and let her pick whatever ring she wanted."

"A what?" Pony asked, like the rest of them he found it hard to believe,

"A cop. A detective actually."

"Damn, how did you meet her? She haul you in?" Two-bit said chuckling and Dallas smirked,

"Yeah then I fucked her in the cell."

Johnny rolled his eyes, I bet he'd heard the story first hand from Beth, "Dal come on."

Dallas sighed, "I was working at a cop bar and she started coming in every night, things went from there."

I smirked, finding it hilarious that Johnny still tried to put Dallas in a better place. We all chatted, Dallas mainly catching up with the rest of the guys.

Later that night Dallas and Beth left to go to the motel- they (Dallas) claimed they didn't want to keep us up so it would be safer if they stayed in a motel.

Charolette was rubbing lotion onto her hands and arms when I got into the room from saying good night to Josie and DJ.

"Hi beautiful," I said, pulling my shirt off. She smiled and leaned over to kiss me,

"You have the day off tomorrow right?" I nodded, laying beside her,

"Yeah, I was thinking we sleep in before we start the days activities. What did you think of Beth?"

"She seems nice, maybe a little shy around all of us but I'm sure it'll be fine after tomorrow."

"Probably. Do you girls have any plans?"

"I invited them all over for a swim and then I thought we could have some wine and what not in front of the fire place."

I nodded and kissed her, "The boys want to head up to the bar by Soda's place to catch up, is that okay?"

She nodded, "You're not drinking right?"

I shook my head, "No babe, I figured I'd DD and Soda probably will too but I'm not sure."

"Okay, good." She said, getting up and going into the washroom. I laid back and put my hands behind my head, closing my eyes.

"Lets get a shower before bed."

I stood up and went with her to our shower. After we finished our shower I unlocked our door and looked down to see Josie sleeping just outside of it and I looked back at Charolette- we'd been trying to break her habit of sleeping with us every night. Char sighed,

"Put her back in bed… We can't let her sleep in here some nights and not others." I nodded and scooped her up, carrying her back to her room and tucking her back into bed.


	8. Chapter 8

Beth

"What about this one?" I asked, showing my tablet to Dallas. He was being less than cooperative in this house hunting process. I wanted to find a place as fast as possible and get moved in and have the nursery set up before the baby comes, but at the rate he's moving our child will be four by the time we find a house.

"Do you like it?" He asked, glancing at it. I sighed,

"Yes I like it, that's why I showed it to you." He scoffed and started to look through the pictures. I loved the house, it was in a nice looking community, not too far from the station where I'd be working and it even had a huge backyard with a pool. There were four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms, with a fireplace in the master and in the living room. It had been recently updated but it was still towards the middle of our budget.

He sighed, "This is the only one you like so far?"

"Dallas this is the only one with everything on our list and there's still extra money that we can put towards our wedding." I saw him make a face and I shook my head. He looked at the address and the other information listed before he looked back at me,

"You knew there was an open house today didn't you?"

"I may have read that part… Please Dallas. I want that house. That's our home." He looked at the time before changing,

"Let's go." I grinned and changed into my clothes, looking at Dallas,

"Maybe you should see if Darry's wife could meet us there so we can have a real estate agent."

He nodded and once we got into the truck he called Charolette,

"Hi Dallas," She said cheerfully.

"Hey Charolette, Beth and I are on our way to look at a house and we were wondering if you'd help us out."

"Yeah of course! Just text me the address and I'll meet you there."

"Great, thanks." He hung up and I used his phone to send her the address, when we pulled up it was busy and I started to get worried. We'd been looking at homes in Tulsa for almost six months and none were as perfect as this one.

I looked at Dallas, "We need this house Dal… It's perfect for us."

"I know. Chill out," He said, taking my hand. When Charolette pulled up we got out and walked over to her,

"Hey you two! It looks busy out here, head in and have a look around, I'm just going to familiarize myself with the listing." We nodded and went in to look around. I knew that Dallas didn't like how the houses were so close together (they weren't that close, he was being over dramatic) but the house was perfect otherwise. The rooms were bigger than we expected, the master was huge with a walk in closet and a beautiful ensuite. The kitchen had been re-done a couple months prior and I looked at Dallas with pleading eyes. He sighed and Charolette came in to see us,

"Hey! What did you think?"

"We love it," I said, taking Dally's hand. She smiled and nodded,

"I could tell. It's a great home, it's very popular as you can tell so I'd suggest offering a little more than asking price… In order to let the seller's know that you're interested." We nodded and discussed a price before Charolette went to speak with the other agent. She came back over and she bit her lip,

"The seller is willing to accept your conditions but they're asking for a little more," She said, showing us the price. I swallowed hard and looked at Dallas, that was getting to the higher end of our budget. He looked at me and looked at Charolette,

"Fine. We'll accept that, expect we want the closing date pushed up as soon as you can get it Char." She smiled and nodded, going over to the other agent. I looked up at Dallas nervously, in the time we'd been looking for a house this is the only one that I've absolutely loved. He wrapped his arm around my waist and watched other people as they looked around.

When Charolette came back she was grinning, "Your closing date is in two weeks, they were looking to sell quickly! Congratulations!" She said grinning and I hugged her tightly and she grinned,

"Thank you for letting me help you with this guys, I'm so happy for you!"

"Thank you so much for helping us… Gosh I can't believe it's ours." I said, resting a hand against my stomach. She grinned and rubbed my arm,

"I know… It's an amazing feeling isn't it? I remember standing outside our house the day it was finished, DJ had been born the week before and my life had never felt so perfect and so complete." I nodded, rubbing my bump. Dallas didn't exactly want to know the gender but I was dying to know so at my last appointment I had the doctor tell me and I couldn't be happier (I guess I'm just biased that my baby is healthy). I tried to talk Dally into a gender reveal party but as he said, "those are stupid and a waste of money".

"Well, we'd better start looking into getting our shit packed," Dallas said and I nodded,

"Or I mean… Since we're here and we don't have much in the way of furniture maybe we could just pay a moving company to do it for us?"

"Why do you want to have everything done for you?"

"Uhm, maybe because we're already here and we'd need to get a moving truck anyways?"

"Yeah and what about your car? They're going to drive that too?" I was started to get frustrated with him, my feet were already starting to swell and I hadn't slept at all last night,

"Forget it. I'll fly back and pack up."

"Oh so now you're going to do it all yourself? What about the shit you can't lift?"

"I'll sell it, and I'll put it towards a wedding." I said, crossing my arms.

"If you keep pulling this shit about the wedding then I'm calling it off. I told you I don't want a huge wedding." I swallowed hard. Having a wedding called off was one of my biggest fears. My last ex-Wesley-had ditched at the alter. Just before he said I do, well, he didn't. He walked out and by the time I made it back to my place all of his things were gone. It took me a while to trust Dallas; he was the complete opposite type of guy that I usually went for. I knew Dallas had a rough past and I knew that he'd never had a serious girlfriend and that always worried me.

"Fine then. Call it off and save your precious money." I said, walking out of the house and to the truck. He didn't come out for almost ten minutes and I cursed my wacky hormones for making me get this emotional. He came back our and waved to Charolette before getting in to his seat, driving to a bakery. He got out and went in, coming back out with a box. He got in and placed the box on my lap before he started to drive.

One thing about Dallas that would never change (there were many) is that he never said sorry. It never came out of his mouth, but he would show me in different ways that he was- this being one of them.

"Thank you," I said softly, opening the lid and helping myself to a pastry.

"Look, we have our closing date in two weeks. We've got family shit planned for the next week, so once we're done that… Maybe you could fly back home with your Mom and Dad and start packing everything… I'll bring the truck back so we can rent a smaller moving truck." I nodded,

"Okay.. Thank you." I kissed him softly before he started driving again,

"You hungry?" I nodded and he made a left hand turn. Where we lived, in Riverdale, had been the perfect location. It was roughly a fifteen minute drive to work (we mainly covered the Bronx) and close enough to night life. Though as Dallas and I progressed into our relationship we stopped seeking the night life and started doing other things we found fun (most of those activities being sexual, thanks to Dallas).

I was hoping that our apartment would get good money- it was a nice neighbourhood and fairly local. He pulled into a parking lot and I looked up to see a cute retro looking family diner.

"This is cute," I said, putting the box of pastries on the dash. He nodded and got out,

"This is Two-bit's," I got out with him and took his hand. When we walked in I felt him grip my hand a little tighter before I noticed a platinum blonde eyeing Dallas.

"Sylvia." He said, and she raised her eyebrow before nodding,

"Dallas. This must be your fiancée. I'm Sylvia." She said, looking towards me.

I nodded, "Beth, it's nice to meet you."

She smirked, "Well then you mustn't have heard about me."

I glanced up at Dallas before I sighed, "I'm not playing these games. I'm going to the washroom." I walked towards the bathroom and glanced over my shoulder to see Dallas grinning at her. I had a feeling today was going to be one of those days.

When I got back out Dallas was sitting at a table (I hated sitting at tables, I preferred booths) and still chatting with Sylvia. I sat in front of him and he looked at me, "What do you want to eat?"

"A hamburger with fries, and a water." Sylvia nodded and wrote it down before running her hand down Dallas's arm. I grit my teeth, "Make that to go please." She rolled her eyes before she walked away. I looked at Dallas and he was looking around, avoiding my eyes. I shook my head,

"So she must have been your bunny while you were here?"

He shrugged, "Yeah."

"What's going on with the two of you? I don't like this touching and you undressing her with your eyes."

"Nothing is going on, don't be so paranoid."

"Paranoid? How am I being paranoid if I'm all that's stopping you from having a physical trip down memory lane?"

He rolled his eyes, "I'm getting tired of you not trusting me Elizabeth."

"I'm getting tired of you checking other women in front of me! It's rude and disrespectful to me!"

He shook his head and I sat back crossing my arms. Sylvia brought a bag back and Dallas went over to pay. I reached into the bag and opened the container helping myself to a couple of fries. Sylvia looked at me,

"If he loves you don't let him go. He never looked at me the way he looks at you. He only wanted me for sex."

I looked up at her and I could tell she was genuine. I nodded and Dallas came back,

"Let's go," And he didn't wait for me to even get up- he just kept walking. I sighed and picked the bag up, walking out to his truck. We went back to the motel and I sat on the bed and started eating my food. Dallas went into the bathroom to shower and then came back out,

"I will try and stop looking at other women. You don't need to worry about Sylvia, I'm not into girl's like her anymore."

I shook my head, "Just stop talking okay? Please, before you dig yourself an even bigger hole."

"Why? What the fuck did I do wrong now?"

" _I'm not into girls like her anymore_." I said, crossing my arms.

"I don't sound like that."

"Don't change the subject! What the hell do you mean girls like her? Girls that are hot or sexy? Girls that have curves?"

"Girls that only want in my pants."

"I'm pretty sure she wanted more than just into your pants Dallas."

"While you were in the washroom she was making advances, claiming we could go back to old times. Babe old times with her were great- no strings attached. But I've put in too much time and effort trying to get to you trust me and believe me. I wouldn't throw that all away."

I sighed, sometimes this man truly amazed me. I looked at the time and stood up to kiss him softly,

"I'm sorry."

He kissed me back and grinned playfully, "I know." I shook my head smiling and got changed into a nicer pair of jeans and a maternity top. I also grabbed one of Dally's sweatshirts to take with me to Charolette's house. I couldn't wait to get to know the girls more.

He changed into his usual jeans and a teeshirt, pulling on the leather jacket that I got him for his birthday when we first started dating.

He kissed me again, resting a hand against my baby bump. God I loved it when he did, he hardly ever paid any attention to my bump.

"Can we have another talk?" He asked, gently rubbing his hand across my bmp. I bit my lip and nodded,

"Okay… About what?"

"Well… If I take the job for Darry's company… I'll be making upwards of double what I make now."

I knew immediately where this was going, "I want you to be a stay at home Mom with our little one. You being a cop… I know that it's your dream career but I can't risk losing you again. I'd never been so scared in my entire life more than when you were laying in that hospital bed fighting death. I know it ain't New York anymore but believe me Tulsa can be just as dangerous. I can't risk you getting hurt again… You or our baby. I'm going to take the job for Darry… And we'll be in a good spot here."

I bit my lip, "Well… I guess that depends… Are we having more than one baby?"

He cocked his eyebrow and I bit my lip, "I… I want a big family Dallas. You know I have a big family and… No offence but it's kind of pointless to be a stay at home Mom for one child."

"Fine… We can talk about having another baby."

"Well… If we agree on having another baby… And getting a dog, then I'll retire from the force."

He kissed me and I knew it was a huge relief to him. I know that this job causes a lot of stress, especially for myself and him when he hears of a cop getting shot and he can't get a hold of me.

"Let's go." I took his hand and followed him out to the truck, smiling when we pulled up to Darry's house.

"Are you going to be drinking?"

He cocked his eyebrow and I sighed, does a bear shit in the woods?

"Please don't get drunk, you know I can't stand it when you're drunk."

"Okay babe. I won't get drunk." I kissed him and we went inside where mostly everyone was, but I could tell they were still waiting for Steve (I think) and the families from Sodapop's farm.

Steve and Tessa came in about two minutes later than us,

"Hey, sorry we're late. Julian threw a fit." Steve said, taking Tessa's coat off for her. Tessa rolled her eyes,

"Steve promised him that they'd go out to the movies tonight."

"The kid needs to start learning what disappointment is."

"He's three years old Steve. There was no need to break his heart." He muttered a response before we heard two cars pull up so the guys kissed their wives and Dallas kissed me, whispering in my ear,

"I love you."

"I love you, please be careful." He scoffed and made some stupid ass remark about always being safe and they left.

"Is everything okay Tessa?" Charolette asked, getting everyone something to drink before bringing us to the living room where she had a fire going.

She sighed and sat on the couch, rubbing her bump, "With all of the sudden expenses coming with the baby… Steve's been working a lot of over time and Julian just misses him so much."

"Oh hun I'm so sorry.." Presley said, taking her hand. She sniffled and tried to smile,

"Things will get better now that we have a new place… Thank you so much." Tessa hugged Presley and I smiled.

"So Beth, tell us about you!" Audrey said excitedly, and I gave them a nervous smile,

"Well.. I was born and raised in Guymon… My parents got divorced when I was sixteen and my father moved to New York to take on some big position in the NYPD there… Mom married her best friend and he's my dad now. I've been a cop since I was old enough." I said, playing with the ends of my shirt nervously.

Elena took my hand smiling and Tessa grinned,

"How did you and Dallas meet?"

I smiled, remembering back to that night, "Well… The first time I met him my partner, Aaron, talked me into going to this cop bar with him after shift, his boyfriend was working late at the hospital and my fiancé was working late at the office. It was after a big bust so I agreed… Aaron said there was a really cute bartender that worked there and he wanted me to see him… Aaron knew that Wesley was an asshole and he saw it before I did. So we went that night and we took the other bartender, but Dallas is the most handsome and sexy man I've ever seen.

"After the night that I first saw him Wesley started acting sweeter- we were closing in on our wedding date so I stopped going to the bar. Then at my wedding… He um… Well I guess he couldn't bring himself to say "I do" so he left me at the alter. I ended up going to the bar that night, I kind of wanted to be alone and Dallas came over and we just started chatting. I um… I still had my honeymoon booked and I took a huge risk and… I asked him to join me and… Here we are." I finished with a grin. Those two weeks had been the best two weeks of my life by far.

"Oh that's so cute! I'm sorry you were left at the aisle but Dallas is so much better for you," Tessa said grinning.

"How did he propose?" Audrey asked excitedly and I smiled,

"Well… We'd been talking about wedding plans before he asked me- Mom mentioned that she wanted me to have another big wedding for the family… My family is big enough there's at least one wedding a year… And he's really against that. But while we were arguing he said that if I wanted a big wedding I'd have to pay for it myself… So I started working a lot of over time to try and increase my savings. One of the shifts I was working we were extremely close to solving a huge homicide and drug case that we'd been working on for months. At the time I was with a different detective, Aaron hadn't opted for the same amount of over time. While we were searching a warehouse we heard a noise from the other room and Carl signalled for me to check.

"It was a routine sweep, we were looking for any signs of life and then… I just remember hearing three really loud bangs and I was on the floor. I… I can remember feeling around my chest- I had a vest on so I felt fine… I forgot these guys were using bullets that could penetrate our vests. The next thing I remember was Carl screaming my name during a shoot out before I passed out."

"Dallas called Darry to go and be with him, you were unconscious for almost a week…" Charolette said quietly, and I nodded,

"When I woke up… Dallas was beside me, just staring at me and to be honest that really freaked me out. I'd never seen him look so… Out of it. I had to get his attention and when I did he moved to quickly sit beside me, gently taking both of my hands. Then he just said 'Marry me'. It took me a second to process what he said and I found myself saying yes, and I didn't know until that moment that I had almost… well.. lost him."

I swallowed hard. Why had I been so hard on Dallas to have a perfect wedding? All that mattered was that the two of us were there and that we loved each other. Nothing else mattered except for that.

"So how did he pick your ring?" Presley asked curiously and I grinned,

"He didn't… He told me the amount he'd spend on a ring and the rest was up to me. So… After a lot of looking and a lot of research I found one online and had it sent to the jewellery store by our apartment and it was perfect… And on sale."

They grinned and looked at Elena, "You know you never told us how Johnny proposed to you!"

Elena giggled and cleared her throat, "Well… It was the night after our fifth anniversary and I convinced my parents to let Johnny and I skip the Gala so we could have a romantic night to ourselves for once. Thankfully they agreed and Johnny and I were allowed to take the boat to our cabin on Bar Island. We had a romantic night on the boat… We watched the stars and we were cuddling under a blanket… I had some wine and he only had some pop because he was the captain," She giggled,

"So basically we talked about our future and we just cuddled, it was all really sweet. And then once we made it to the cabin the room was full of flower petals, different types of roses, and candles, and he sat me on the bed and gave me a speech before he asked me to marry him. He got my parents blessing and had gotten them to help plan it- our whole relationship he's been surprising me like that. After we… Well we were officially engaged we didn't leave the cabin for almost two days."

"Oh that's so romantic," Charolette said.

"How did Darry propose?" I asked, really curious. Besides Johnny and Elena Darry was the person I knew next and he didn't strike me as the romantic type.

"Well it was a really relaxing night… Between work and family we'd hardly seen each other that week and it was hard on the both of us. So on a Friday night we ordered Chinese and had a favourite movie marathon with some wine and one of our favourite movies had a really romantic scene where the boyfriend proposed and Darry got up and walked away. I knew the thought of proposing made him really uncomfortable so I was extremely surprised when he called me onto the back porch and he was waiting there on one knee."

"That's adorable," Tessa said grinning.

The rest of the girls shared their stories on their wedding proposals and then we changed topics to the first time with their men.

My first time with Dallas was a week after we started talking. It had been awkward asking him if he wanted to join me on the vacation, I mean I'd barely known him for a week but I was so glad I did ask him. We spent the two weeks getting to know each other- physically and emotionally.


	9. Chapter 9

Sodapop

"Soda? Sweetheart it's time to wake up," I heard a soft voice call, and I woke up to see Presley sitting up in bed, her red curls in a mess around her.

"What? What time is it?"

"It's almost seven, did you sleep through your alarm?" She asked curiously and I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to remember.

"I don't remember babe… Shit." I said, resting my arm over my face. I felt absolutely exhausted, we brought in a new horse last night (let me just say it's really stupid to get a new horse in the middle of your family reunion) and DJ had told the twins a scary story and they were scared to fall asleep so I had to stay awake with them until they fell asleep (they talked me into letting their dogs sleep on their beds to help protect them).

"It's okay Soda, the horses won't starve if they're fed a couple hours late. I don't have any lessons today, I promise it's okay." I nodded and sat up, leaning over to kiss her,

"We have your doctor's appointment today… Do we want the gender to be a surprise or did we want to know?"

"I want to know… Incase we need time to prepare."

I knew she not only meant prepare a nursery, but to prepare ourselves mentally incase it was another girl.

I kissed her again before pulling the covers back. I moved so I was sitting on the edge of the bed and I stretched, rubbing my face tiredly.

"Do you have any lessons scheduled for today?" Presley asked and I shook my head,

"I figured it would be too busy so I had 'em reschedule."

Our property had two barns- one for English, on the East side of the property, with top of the line amenities, and a barn on the West side of our property for Western Riding. Presley had a impressive record when it came to English- she had won the Grand Prix numerous times (I watched her win her last one not too long ago) and she is even an ex-olympian. However she and her horse didn't have very good luck in the Olympics, he hadn't been feeling well, his leg had been tender and he kept refused a jump- which had gotten them eliminated. The town was still proud (her family and I were extremely proud that she had accomplished her dream, even though she hadn't medaled) and after the last Grand Prix she decided to start teaching and sharing her talents.

When I started working at the barn it had been a strictly English barn. After I'd been running the barn for a couple years I proposed the idea of having a Western barn as well- Western lessons were hard to find now a days. Even though the riding styles were very different and each was frowned upon by the other, having them on complete separate sides of the property (with separate entrances) made it work. We both spent the majority of our day teaching lessons- some kids worked to pay for their lessons which meant less mucking and stone searching for Presley and I.

"Are you and the boys going out tonight?" She asked, getting up and dressed. I went over to my dresser and nodded,

"Yeah, I think we're going to the bar off Alen Street, I'm going to DD babe, I think Darry is too. Are you and the girls doing something?" She nodded,

"Charolette invited us over." I smiled and pulled on my clothes, going to the kitchen where Mom was cooking,

"Good morning you two sleepy heads." She said playfully. I grinned and kissed her head,

"Good morning Ma, breakfast smells delicious." She playfully swatted my hand with her spatula and I reached to get a piece of bacon from behind her,

"Presley you'd better keep a handle on this husband of yours." Presley giggled and got out some drinks for breakfast, the twins came downstairs sleepily (besides Presley and I the only thing that would get them out of bed is bacon). Audrey came in holding Harrison, who still looked to be sleeping in her pink flannel. God I couldn't wait to have another baby.

"Good morning," She said, happily handing Harri to Presley.

"Morning, did you sleep okay?" I asked, already helping myself to fruit. She nodded,

"Yes thank you."

"Is Ponyboy up?" Presley asked and Audrey smiled but shook her head,

"He could probably sleep until noon if I don't wake him, but he's hardly been sleeping so I thought I'd let him sleep in… And Maddie wanted to snuggle with him so I left her in there with him." We nodded and Mom put her spatula in the sink,

"Help yourself children," She said, getting the plates out of the cupboard. We all made our plates and started eating,

"What time is your doctor's appointment today?" Mom asked and Presley finished chewing before wiping her mouth,

"Nine, then we're going to get groceries after."

She nodded, "Okay, I'm meeting the girls down at the guild, I'm sure the boys would love to come." I glanced over at my sons as they nodded excitedly. I knew that the older women had an endless candy supply that my sons surely appreciated.

I looked at Audrey, "Are you going to be okay here alone while we're out?"

She nodded, "My mom wanted me to call once we were all settled in and I'm sure between Harri and my tablet I'll keep occupied."

We nodded before going to get ready for the appointment. We ended up getting there half an hour early and we sat nervously in the waiting room,

"Presley Curtis?" The receptionist called and we stood up,

"Exam room 1 hun."

"Thanks Mary," She said, and we went into the exam room. She sat in the chair and reached to take my hand in hers,

"What if something is wrong with the baby?"

"Shh… You know we have to think positive baby." She swallowed hard and squeezed my hand.

"Hey guys!" Doctor Reid said excitedly, we'd been with her since our very first pregnancy and she knew it had been hard on us.

"So this is your second check up, the first one being to confirm that you're pregnant?"

Presley nodded, resting a hand on her bump nervously, "Right. We're hoping to find out the gender today if it's possible."

"Okay, perfect." She started the ultra sound machine and Presley lifted her shirt up. I saw Doctor Reid give her stomach a second glance and I started to feel sick. I knew something must have been wrong.

"This is going to be cold okay?"

Presley nodded and shivered a little when she put the gel on, and Doctor Reid grinned,

"Well you two, congratulations, you're having a boy!"

"Seriously?" I asked, squeezing Presley's hand in mine tightly, tears filling my eyes.

"Yep, right here is the baby's penis," She said, pointing to the screen. I looked at Presley and tears were running down her face. I reached to rub her back and the doctor performed a routine check up before smiling,

"Do you do a lot of riding now Presley?" She shook her head,

"I stopped as soon as the pregnancy test was a positive."

"Okay great. I don't think you need to take a bed rest again this time, but definitely no riding and let's say nothing to bumpy for the rest of your pregnancy. Also, I don't want a lot of physical activity for the next little while until we run some tests and make sure that you're stable." We nodded but we couldn't take our eyes off the screen.

"Well that's all for me guys, I'll see you back in the next couple of weeks okay?" We nodded and Doctor Reid left, and Presley stood up shakily. I hugged her tightly and she started to cry,

"A boy… A healthy baby boy…" She said between sobs, and I rubbed her back.

"I know baby… We're going to be okay… Our little boy is healthy and he's happy." She wiped her eyes and grinned at me, and I couldn't help but grin back.

There was a soft knock on the door and Mary smiled, "Sorry, I just need to make sure that you two aren't…"

"We aren't… We're just happy our baby is okay."

Mary grinned, we'd been coming to Doctor Reid since we first started trying, "That's amazing, I'm so happy for you two." We smiled and walked out hand in hand, getting in the truck. We drove to the grocery store.

We stopped in the baby aisle and she looked up at me, "Should we start… Stocking diapers and food?" I thought about it, we didn't stock with the twins, we'd stocked enough with the first three babies that we didn't need too, but having twins meant that we quickly went through whatever we had.

"Yeah, let's stock up baby." I said, putting two bulk boxes of diapers on the cart. She grabbed a couple bulk sizes of formula before we started shopping.

"Sodapop?" We heard someone say quietly while we were grabbing a roast, and I looked at Presley curiously before turning to see a blonde woman standing there,

"Yes?" I asked awkwardly. This is a small town with only roughly fifteen hundred people. It wasn't very often we got tourists either.

"It's me… Sandy."

"Oh, hey, how's it been?" I asked, leaning against the cart. She glanced back at a cart that had three little kids in it and smiled,

"Good… How have you been?"

"Great, this is my wife Presley, Presley this is Sandy." Presley smiled and shook her hand, but I couldn't help but smirk when my wife didn't offer any kind words.

"Well… It was great to see you Sodapop, I'm glad to see that you're doing well."

"Yeah you too Sandy. Have a great day."

She went back to her cart and I saw a man that I assumed her husband walk over. I leaned to kiss Presley, before we continued shopping.

When we got to the snack aisle there was a young girl talking with her mother,

"Mom please, I want to do riding lessons," She said quietly. We recognized them as Taylor and her Mom Julia, they had come for a tour of our barns not to long ago.

"Sweetheart I said no. We can't afford horse lessons right now."

We waited for a couple minutes before continuing, smiling at them, "Hi Julia, hi Taylor!" I said, and Julia smiled at us,

"Hello Sodapop, Presley," She said, looking up from her paper. I knew what that paper was- a budget keeper. We used the same thing when Mom and Dad died.

"We've been doing a lot of research… And we've found that there is a way for Taylor to ride." Presley said. Julia swallowed hard,

"I'm sorry?"

"Well, there are many riders at our barn that work during the weekends and some nights after school to offset the cost of riding. We know our lessons aren't the cheap but there's a good reason for that. If you and Taylor are willing, we'd like to offer her a job at the barn. She would work for us for about a month, and then that month will cover a beginner riding package. The only thing that you would need to pay for would be the accessories, which aren't cheap either but with the cost of lessons waved it's certainly manageable." Presley said, and Taylor started to grin.

Julia swallowed hard, we knew she was a single Mom- she lost her husband in the war earlier this year, "We… We can't accept that…"

I gently rested a hand on her arm, "We want to help you… And if this is the way we can help then please let us. We can tell Taylor really wants to ride and I think she may be a natural."

She wiped her eyes before hugging the both of us tightly. Presley smiled at Taylor,

"Do you know what type of riding you want to do?" Taylor nodded,

"English… I know it's more expensive but I want to jump." Presley smiled,

"Why don't you and your Mom come by tomorrow and we'll look through my old gear and we can see what fits you, okay?"

She nodded excitedly and hugged Presley tightly. After making plans for them to stop by tomorrow we finished our shopping and went home, Pony was awake and in the kitchen eating cereal, the girls were sitting in the living room and Audrey was reading to them.

"Hey," Pony said, standing up to help us bring in grocery bags.

"Hey, how did you sleep?" I asked, starting to put food into the fridge.

"Great man, I haven't slept that well in years." He said playfully and I grinned. We put away the rest of the groceries,

"So what do you say, you mind taking us on a tour of the barns? Maddie wants to see the horses." I nodded and so did Presley,

"Yeah sounds great to me, we'll take the truck." I said grinning. Usually to get from one side of the farm to another we used horses, but Presley wasn't allowed to ride horses or the wagon. I grabbed the keys and we all went out to the truck. Pony had Maddie sit between the two of us in the front and Presley, Audrey, and Harri sat in the back.

"Okay so we'll go to the English barn first, Presley can show you what she does and then we'll go to the Western barn… Maybe we could get the girls on to a horse." Audrey grinned,

"That would be amazing!"

We went to the English barn and showed them around, Presley brought them into the outdoor course and showed them the advanced course. We had students coming from all over the south to train, the ones that came during the day were usually extremely well off families that had their children home schooled and were able to focus on riding.

"Wow, this is intense," Pony said, taking Maddie into his arms and he started to walk the course. Then we loaded back into the the truck and went to the Western barn. The girls got really excited when I suited up a pony, bringing them outside into the arena. Ponyboy lifted Maddie on and I gave her a small lesson (essentially I just told her to hold onto the pony's mane and I walked her around the arena). Presley took a couple pictures for our social media pages, and then we realized the time.

"We're going to be late." I said, getting everyone back into the truck.

When we got back to the house Mom was just pulling up and she waved, unbuckling the boys out of their car seats.

"Hey, I thought you'd be gone by now." She said and I shook my head,

"We're going to be leaving in the next couple of minutes, we got distracted at the barns." She nodded,

"Well I thought that the kids and I could watch some movies tonight, maybe play a couple board games and order some pizza for dinner."

I smiled and kissed her head, "Thanks Mom. Are you sure you're okay watching four toddlers?"

"Of course. I had five of my own, I will manage Sodapop."

We nodded and went to get changed,

"Do you have any cash on you to leave for pizza?" Presley asked me and I went to the jeans that I was wearing earlier. I pulled out forty dollars,

"Will this cover it?" I asked and she nodded, pulling on her dress,

"It should. Thanks babe."

We went downstairs and said goodbye to our kids and we started the drive to Darry's house. When we got there the guys pretty much came out as soon as we pulled up so I kissed Presley (Pony kissed Audrey as well) and they left to go inside.

"How many seats do you have?" Darry asked,

"I've got six, I'll DD."

He nodded and got the keys to their car, "I will too. I'll follow you man." I nodded and Two-bit, Steve, and Johnny climbed into my truck. I knew that Dallas was likely talking business with Darry, Darry had offered him a promising position that he likely couldn't turn down. I start the drive to the quiet bar we normally went to.

"Hey boys," The bartender said and I grinned,

"Hey Henry. Can I get four beers, two cokes, and a water please?" He nodded and the we all grabbed our drinks, going to sit at one of the tables.

"So Johnny you and Elena planning on having more kids?" Steve asked, opening his beer. Johnny nodded,

"We are actually, we just wanted to settle in here and get out jobs back up and running before we started trying."

"Wow, good for you guys." Ponyboy said, and I looked over at him,

"Are you and Audrey trying?"

He shrugged, "I don't think so. Half the time with our jobs it's like we hardly have enough time for Maddie and Harri, another kid wouldn't be ideal."

I nodded and Darry looked over at me, carefully observing me, "Are you and Presley trying again?" I swallowed hard and shook my head before I couldn't help but start to grin,

"We're having a boy!" I exclaimed and the guys all grinned and patted my shoulder, congratulating me.

"What about you Dallas? You and your girl going to have another baby?" Dally shrugged,

"I don't know. We weren't trying for this one." I sighed- it sounded like he needed help.

"So what kind of wedding are you two having? Have you looked into that yet?"

"Yeah a small one."

"That's nice that she wants a small wedding," Two-bit said, and Dally smirked,

"Nah man she wants a huge wedding but I don't."

"You… You don't?" Johnny asked, and I knew at this point everyone knew that I was trying to get at.

"Nope. I don't want any of that shit."

Steve sighed, shaking his head.

"What?" Dallas asked irritably.

"You know that women have been planning their wedding since they were like five right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"I don't think it's very smart to put huge breaks and rules on the most important day in a woman's life."

"Bullshit. A wedding isn't the most important day of her life."

"She's marrying the man of her dreams, proving her love to her family and to whatever God you believe in. It's the biggest day of their life." Darry said, siping his drink.

"Come on, Johnny you're on my side right? The wedding you had was over the top and a waste of money."

"No." Johnny said, looking down the table to Dallas, "My wedding may have been over the top and expensive yes, but it was the way Elena and her Mom pictured it. There was nothing Elena could have changed about it, and if that's what she wanted I wanted to make sure she had it. Sure I hated that there were roughly six hundred people there… But Elena was happy. She had been the happiest I've ever seen her and that made it all worth it. Sure, I would have preferred we go somewhere and get married on a quiet beach but the point I'm trying to make is that once we sign up to get married, there's no more 'No, we're not doing that because I don't want too', you need to make compromises. If you won't make her happy, don't forget that someone else could."

Dallas was quiet for a couple minutes before he sighed.

"We don't want to say you need to change Dallas… But you should try not too be too stubborn. Beth is a great girl and she signed up to be with you." I said before I sighed. I was trying to make this sound right, "She signed up to be with you, she knows what she's getting herself into. All I'm trying to say is… Maybe you could surprise her once in a while. Wedding's aren't the best, it's a lot of stress and a lot of pressure. But she's having your baby and moving back to Tulsa and I'm sure she would have preferred to stay in New York with her career. If it's not only her that wants a big wedding… It would definitely give you bigger brownie points."

He sighed, " _Fine_ , I guess this means I'm going into debt."

"You've got a house, a girl, and a kid. You were already in debt." Darry said with a playful grin.

"Ugh enough with all this cutie patotie talk, let's talk dirty," Two-bit said, opening his second beer, "You really think the girls are back at Darry's house gushing all the cute details? No! They're talking dirty about us and I know it."

"How do you know that?" Steve asked before I noticed Two-bit smirk,

"Because I know that you and Tessa don't have sex very often because you two do some fifty shades of grey shit." Steve grit his teeth and shrugged,

"Fine, I know some dirty secrets about you but I bet you don't want them shared." Being brother-in-laws I bet they knew quite a bit about the other, with Tessa and Olivia talking every day.

"Okay that's enough. Come on, let's talk dirty about the girls and get to know them."

"Absolutely not. Because you can't keep your mouth shut." Johnny said and Two-bit gave him a challenging smile,

"I bet sex is boring with Miss Prim and Proper Elena. Johnny slow down. Johnny don't put it there. We only do it in the bedroom Johnny, remember? Oh Johnny, it's not nine o'clock yet, we can't. We scheduled twenty minutes at nine." He said in a very feminine voice and Johnny got a wicked grin on his face. He knew Two-bit was trying to coax information out of him.

"Okay Two-bit. I'm not giving any dirty details on my wife but I can assure you that my sex life is better and more often than yours." He said, and Pony smirked,

"How many times a week?"

"Ten," Two-bit answered, "On a bad week."

Johnny shrugged, "Fifteen, not counting oral."

"Jesus, fifteen times in seven days?"

"Yeah man."

"Who woulda thought that the only one getting good action would be little Johnnycakes," Steve said playfully. Johnny smirked and shrugged,

"I do what she asks, I get what I want."

"Don't you find it weird that you've only ever slept with one woman?" I asked.

He shrugged, "Why would that be weird?"

"Like there's so many things you've never tried, or experienced. Some women love things that other women hate or have never heard of."

"Elena and I are open with each other about stuff like that. As long as the other is okay with it we try it. Some stick and some we never talk about again," He said with a lopsided grin.

"Fair enough," Pony said. Besides Johnny I think I'm the only one who knows that Pony's been with more than one woman.

"What about you and Audrey?"

"Well I mean… Not very often."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean with the girls and the both of us working so much we didn't really have a lot of time."

"That's understandable," Darry said.

A couple hours later we drove back to Darry's house, when we walked in the girls were giggling and Olivia quickly stopped talking,

"Hi babe," Two-bit smirked and shook his head,

"Come on, are you driving or am I?"

"I had a couple glasses of wine," Olivia said and Tessa smiled,

"Steve and I will drive you guys home." Presley stood up and came over and kissed me softly.

"Let's head home, I'm exhausted." I nodded and we waited for Pony and Audrey before we drove home.


	10. Chapter 10

Johnny

"Hey Ever, how's it going?" I heard Elena say softly and I wondered what time it was that Elena was already on the phone. I heard some chatter on the other end of the line before Elena replied,

"You're coming to Tulsa! That's great! We miss you too! We're going house hunting today, if my husband decides to wake his lazy ass up," She said before slapping my butt, knowing full well I was awake and listening.

"Of course you can design our house, why would we ever say no?" Elena said happily.

There was more chatter and I rolled onto my back, groaning. If I didn't stop her from talking she would talk to her sister for hours.

"Yeah, we'll let you know when we've found a place, and then you can fly down and stay with us while we do some shopping. I can't wait to have this house as our own." She was quiet before nodding, "Yeah there's going to be room for Mom and Dad, we're hoping a separate space all together though."

They kept chatting before I nodded at the time and she nodded,

"Well I've gotta get going but I'll call you later."

She hung up and turned to look at me, "You're terrible Johnny."

I shrugged, "Shower?" She shook her head smiling before nodding. I went to get the water started and she checked on the girls to make sure they were still sleeping.

We showered, I helped her wash her body and I washed her hair before we got out and got dressed before waking the girls up. We decided to take the girls out for breakfast. We got them dressed and we had a couple places to "look" at (she still didn't know about our house) and then we'd come back for the big dinner Darry and Charolette were having tonight.

"Okay girls let's go."

We went to Two-bit's restaurant and I was surprised when I saw Sylvia working there.

"Johnny, hey! This must be your wife, Elena. Two-bit was telling me about you. Your girls are adorable."

I smiled, "Thanks Sylvia, you look good."

"You do too kiddo, I'm glad you're looking and feeling better. Can I get you guys a booth?"

We nodded and she brought us to a booth, Elena smiled warmly at Sylvia as she talked to the girls in a way that only a parent would know (no ridiculous baby voices and talking down on them). Elena knew all about how I was in Tulsa, about my depression and anxiety. I'd learned how to try and overcome my depression but my anxiety is something I'm still not sure how to deal with.

"What can I get you for breakfast?"

I nodded at Elena and she smiled, "Can we get a plate of hot cakes, and I'll have the Eggs Galore, with a green tea please." Sylvia nodded and wrote it down, looking at me,

"I'll get the King's breakfast, with orange juice please."

She nodded, "And for the girls to drink? Juice and milk?"

I nodded, "Apple juice and chocolate milk."

She smiled and walked away and I took Elena's hand, "What do you say we take the scenic route to the first place babe? See some of the country side?"

"That would be great, maybe we could stop if there's nice scenery and get some pictures with the girls."

I nodded, "Sounds perfect babe."

We ate- Two-bit didn't come in this morning so we didn't get the chance to say hello but we left a generous tip before we left.

I started driving, taking the road to the house. Darry had put a fake for sale sign on it, and just like I had hoped Elena asked that we pull in "just to take a look". I sighed, looking at her,

"Babe I don't know that we can afford this house."

"Let's just look okay?" She said, getting out with the girls. I smiled and put the keys in my pocket, walking out.

"Johnny this house is so beautiful." I got my phone out and pressed record,

"How much do you like this house Lena?" I asked, smiling when she looked into the camera.

"I love it Johnny… I love it so much."

"You haven't even been inside yet."

"I know… But I just know that the inside is as beautiful as the outside."

"Did you want to go and look?"

"Of course I do."

"Well good… Because it's ours."

"W-what?" She said, covering her mouth. I grinned as her eyes got shiny and she sniffled,

"This is ours?"

"Yes Lena, this is our home… This is the one we built together on that app last year…" I said, digging the keys out of my pocket. She sobbed and threw her arms around me, gripping my shirt,

"T-Thank you… Thank you so much." She said, muffled because of my chest,

"Come on, let's go look into our new home." She wiped her eyes, smudging her make up. I kissed her softly before she took the girls's hands and we went into the house.

"I-It's so beautiful… How did you even pull this off?" She asked, hiccuping,

"Well my dear, as well as you can read me, I can read you. I knew that you'd agree that we could move back… And therefore I knew that we could pay for the house. We used all of our own money, your parents didn't help one cent but part of the house that's separated by the arch way will be theirs." She covered her mouth and her shoulders were shaking gently and she hugged my side,

"Thank you so much."

"You're very welcome baby… Ever was just landing in Tulsa when she called you this morning so she can get the house organized for us… Your parents are bringing our clothes and stuff down but we can buy all new furniture."

She leaned up to kiss me softly before I took her hands and took her around the house. Easton eagerly followed us, I held Ella in my arm.

The master bedroom had a huge window that overlooked the backyard and then the country side behind it. We had a pool, a hot tub, and an amazing outdoor eating area. Darry had really outdone himself with this property, it was everything I'd hoped it would be.

The kitchen was out of Elena's dreams. Although we didn't get granite counter tops it was a look alike and it was still a fairly big kitchen. We couldn't afford top of the line appliances but I had a good feeling that her parents and Ever would get the higher end appliances for us and even renovate. They've all had top of the line appliances their entire life and I didn't know that they would like not having the same amenities.

This luxurious life style at first made me so uncomfortable, but then I realized how generous the family was with their money. Elena and Ever were definitely spoiled, they each had accounts to fall back and absolutely spoil my daughters.

I spoil my daughters too- I wanted them to have the life that I didn't get. I was a sucker for my girls, Elena had to be the strong one because I can't ever say no. We heard a car pull up out front and we looked over to see Ever getting out of her rental car.

Elena grinned and went over to hug her tightly and Ever grinned,

"I hope you got your plastic card ready because we're going to use it and abuse it today."

Elena giggled and I smiled, hugging Ever, "How was your flight?"

"It was great," She leaned up and kissed my cheek, "I wanna meet your hot single friends."

I laughed, "As far as I know I only have one friend that's single."

She shrugged before getting into the SUV.

"Alright tell me where I'm heading." I said as I started driving and they requested that we go to Ikea (to start).

When we got there it was packed as usual, so I picked Easton up and Elena picked Ella up and we started walking around.

"Okay, so we're going to have to set a budget and you girls can go to town, I just want a say in our bedroom."

Elena grinned and kissed me and I started walking with them. I knew there was a reason that Ever was an interior designer and I wanted our house to be perfect like Elena wanted but they were definitely not looking at the price tag before writing things down.

"Lena how much do we want to spend on this?" I asked when Ever went to track down an associate.

"Babe some of this she's going to cover as a house warming gift and Mom and Dad said they'd help too."

I sighed, "Why don't you just start being more price conscious? I don't think it's smart to use the money from your account for something like this. It would be better to save it in case we need a new car. Your parents and Ever won't be helping to cover all of this." She sighed and nodded, I could tell that she wasn't happy.

We started looking again and I could tell Elena wasn't into it anymore. This was her way of being stubborn- it had to be all or nothing. Ever knew what was going on and I knew she was going to find a way to talk me into it.

Elena sighed and took Easton to look at things for her room and Ever slowed down so she was walking beside me,

"You know… She's been dreaming this house for all of her life."

"Yes I know Ever… But this isn't only her house. It's mine too."

"I know Johnny but buying and decorating your first home means the world to women. You get to express yourself through your home."

"Okay, I understand that, but do we really need all of the most expensive appliances and set ups?"

She sighed, "I can try and meet you half way… But I just want you to know that this could be what your house looks like for the rest of your girls' lives."

I kissed Ella's head as she held her stuffed animal tightly in the cart and I looked at Ever,

"Can I at least see the designs you had in mind?"

She nodded and got her tablet out, showing me pictures of every room, "Obviously it won't be identical to this because it's a program and we're in reality but… This is what I had in mind."

Alright, I admitted to myself, So she has my style and Elena's style perfectly mixed together.

"Look, I just don't want to… I don't want to spend an extra mortgage on decorating the house. There's other expenses to go along with decorating," I said, mainly thinking about her rates. She was an interior decorator that was highly in demand and I knew it wouldn't be cheap.

"Johnny you know I'm not charging you for this right?"

"I… I didn't know that." She sighed and linked her arm through mine,

"You're my brother. Elena loves you so much, you're family. I'd never charge you. Well maybe only if I hated you but you treat Elena right and for that I'm grateful. I will need somewhere to stay while I look for a place here, though.."

I grinned and shook my head, "Fine, fine. You can stay with us, make Elena happy. Okay?" She grinned and walked ahead to talk to Lena, Ella looked up at me curiously and I sighed, kissing her head, "You girls have me wrapped around your finger and you have no idea." She grinned up at me and I shook my head grinning, walking to the display where Elena was. She leaned to kiss me and I rubbed her back softly,

"You're so spoiled," I whispered and she grinned,

"I know, I love you and thank you Johnny."

"You're welcome babe."

We left almost five hours later, the furniture was being delivered tomorrow morning. By the time we were finished it was pretty much time that we were supposed to be at Darry's for dinner. We brought Ever back to the house to have one last look for the day. While Ever was getting into her car she looked over,

"Alright guys I'll see you bright and early tomorrow. Johnny, bring some reinforcements if you can because we need to put everything together. Luckily for you guys the colours are already fantastic, so we won't have to paint. Elena and I will need to get some kitchen supplies and bed sheets and what not."

I smiled, "Well text us what hotel you're staying at and we can pick you up in the morning."

She smiled and hugged us both, kissing the girls's heads before leaving.


	11. Chapter 11

Two-bit

I sat on our couch- nervously waiting for the lady from the adoption agency to show up. We had finished moving in yesterday and we hardly had to wait longer than twenty four hours for an interview. Olivia was sitting beside me in a nice sundress, she looked gorgeous today. I was so nervous, we had little idea what to expect from this interview. There was a knock on the door and we both stood up and walked over but she took my hand in both of hers tightly and I opened the door.

An older woman (probably middle aged) smiled and reached to shake my hand,

"Hello, I'm Kimberly. You must be Keith and Olivia, it's wonderful to meet you."

"You as well. Please, come on in." She did as such and Olivia smiled,

"No need to take your shoes off, could I get you something to drink?"

"Yes please, do you have any juice?"

"We have apple and orange," Olivia said nervously. Kimberly smiled,

"I'll have some orange juice please."

She went to get her a glass and brought a tray out with juice and cookies, setting it on the coffee table. Kimberly sat across from us and I took Olivia's hand in mine,

"So this interview is going to have questions about your childhoods, your adult life, your marriage, and why you'd like to adopt, along with a few other categories should the first half of this interview go well." We nodded and she looked at me,

"Why don't we start with you Keith. Tell me about your childhood."

"Well… I grew up in a lower class family… When I was five my father ran out on my Mom, sister, and I… And my Mom started working three jobs to support us. When I started in school I met a group of guys- the same group of friends I have today- and their parents started helping my Mom out by sending me snacks and lunches and bringing dinner over some nights. Some nights my little sister and I would stay with them while Mom worked but most of the time my Mom would make sure she was home to help us with homework and tuck us in for bed. It was hard at times, when I was ten I started becoming responsible for watching my little sister and it was hard, I was only ten and I had no idea how to take care of a seven year old."

Kimberly nodded and wrote down a few notes. She looked at Olivia and she squeezed my hand,

"I grew up in a middle class family, throughout my childhood I did different sports and activities, I have a twin sister who is also my best friend. My father was a functioning alcoholic, but he's been clean for for fifteen years."

"Okay this leads into my next question. Obviously there was some alcohol dependency in your history Olivia, how has this affected you?"

"Well… My father always was a very opinionated person and it only got worse when he drank… Usually by the time my mother picked us up for school he was already three beers in and it was hard- growing up with a man that would comment negatively on our weight and our appearance constantly."

"I'm sorry to hear that Olivia, it can't have been easy."

She nodded and Kimberly looked at me, "From what my mother always told me, my father was an alcoholic and he was often in between jobs because of it. When I was fourteen my mother started drinking… But I would never say that she was an alcoholic. There were a lot of families in my neighbourhood with alcoholic parents… One of my best friends had them and it was absolutely terrible to see. I… I started to heavily drink when I turned sixteen… My Mom was constantly working and my sister was… Well changing, and it was really hard to handle and I turned to alcohol. I was an alcoholic until I met Olivia… And she really helped me. I'm not sober… But instead of being drunk every day I maybe have one beer a week." Kimberly smiled and nodded,

"Well that is a big accomplishment. Congratulations. Now what type of discipline did your parents use when you were a child?"

"My Mom used a lot of guilt and it made me feel absolutely terrible." I said and Olivia nodded,

"My Mom tried to use guilt but it ended up being a lot of physical discipline. We'd gotten the belt a couple times when we were little and my Dad used to hit us when we messed up, but once we got older and he sobered up he stopped."

"Okay. Now moving on to your adult lives, are you still close with family members and extended family members?"

I nodded, "Out of the six guys I grew up with… I see two of them at least once a week.. The third one lives in Kellyville and I see him about once every two weeks. One lives in Texas and we see him once a month and the other two are moving back from New York and Maine so I think I'll be seeing them once a week. My Mom… My sister I see maybe once a month and my Mom I see almost every day."

"That's good to hear." I nodded and Olivia smiled,,

"Well.. I talk to my parents roughly twice a week and we have a family dinner every Sunday.I see my sister almost every day, we have a family dinner with her and her husband every Friday… Her husband Steve is one of Two-bit's best friends… And then on Saturday dinner is usually with all of his other friends and we rotate houses."

"That is fantastic to hear. It's good to hear that you're still very close with do you consider to be your support network?"

"I'd have to say mainly each other. The two of us have no secrets, we talk to each other about everything and we've been especially depending on each now with our problems trying to conceive. But other than each other I'd have to say my twin sister and probably Steve for Two-bit."

I nodded, "Yeah. I agree."

"Have either of you ever been seen my a therapist or counsellor?"

We both shook our heads. She wrote that down and smiled, "What is your financial situation? Are you able to pay for your current but also save for the future?"

We both nodded, "I own my own business, a restaurant in town and Olivia is the project manager for a residential construction company." She smiled,

"That's good to hear. Now I notice you two don't have any pets. Will you be having any in the future?"

"Well I'm allergic to dogs and to be around them I need to take medication so we wouldn't want a non-hypoallergenic dog in our house hold, but I think we're open to animals." Olivia said, looking at me. I nodded in agreement.

"Alright, now lets discuss some strong points of your marriage," She said, writing down our reply for the pet question.

"Well, we're typically very good with communication," I said, looking over at Olivia. She nodded,

"And we have a great balance between alone time and our daily life. We also agree on our money spending and our spiritual beliefs."

"That's great to hear. Now lets move on to why you want to adopt and your experience with in fertility."

"Well, we learned a little while ago that we're both fertile but I have.. Well.. Slow swimmers because of my alcohol abuse when I was a teenager. We've been trying to have a baby since we've been married and it hasn't been happening. We decided to adopt to give another child a chance that doesn't have a loving home and needs a family." I said, and Olivia wiped her eyes,

"We want a child, we want to give a child a good home. We want to be parents and raise a family."

"Do you have any concerns with adopting?"

We both looked at each other and we shook our heads, "No. We know that the child won't be perfect but we're willing to help them no matter what."

"Who will be staying with the child or baby? How much maternity or paternity time can you have?"

"I'm allowed one year and Keith can stay at home as often as he wants because he runs his business. However when we need to go back to work we plan on looking at an established day care and learning centre." She seemed impressed and wrote that down.

"Do you have any preferences on ages or gender for a child? And what about siblings?"

We both shook our head, "We have no preferences. If we could get younger children we'd prefer that but we won't turn away a child in need that fits us."

"How about a child with disabilities such as autism or health related disabilities like a heart defect?"

"We are open to anything." I said firmly, "We'll love them as our own."

"Now, I understand this may be a difficult question but would you be open to a child with a different nationality that looked different than yourselves?"

"We have thought about it… And we've read some studies on how it could affect the child but our family and extended family are very welcoming. We'll deal with any type of racism and comments in a way that makes our child know that we love them no matter what is said."

"I'm sure you know that this process can take anywhere from nine months to nine years. Now do you have your references?"

I nodded and handed her a clear protective folder, "Our references are all in here." She took the folder and smiled,

"Wow, that is a very thick folder."

"We… We wanted everything to be perfect. We want a baby… Or babies in our life and we wanted to try and have things done so it would end up faster."

"Well, I can assure you that everything was perfect so far. We need to run police checks and background checks but as it stands now there's no reason for you both not to get accepted."

"Thank you so much," Olivia said, and we both stood up to shake her hand,

"No thank you for wanting to adopt and help a child live their life to the fullest."

She smiled and walked out. Olivia hugged me tightly and I kissed her head,

"It went well baby… We're going to have a family." She sniffled and nodded and I rubbed her back.

We went to the basement and she put a movie on for us to watch. We didn't get very many days like these to sit around and do nothing, but some of the stress I had from a week ago was gone. Our loft apartment sold for over asking and definitely helped to offset the cost of buying this house. Once we moved in and customized it and painted it it wasn't so bad. It was nice being in a house with privacy- I could bang my wife in the kitchen and no one noticed.

Half way through Olivia moved to look up at me- her head resting on my lap- and she chewed on her lip,

"Two?"

"Yeah babe?" I asked, not looking down from the screen. She sighed and waited for me to look so I looked down at her,

"Yes Ollie?"

"What if we don't get a baby? Would… Would you hate me?"

"Olivia, the reason we can't have a baby isn't your fault… I told you that. It's my fault. If I hadn't drank all those years we'd probably be on our fourth baby by now. But I could never hate you, especially not because I can't get you pregnant." She nodded and closed her eyes, resting her head against my stomach. We were supposed to be at Darry's in an hour, we were having dinner and I didn't doubt that we'd be doing some sort of bonding with everyone together.

I let her sleep, I know that the adoption interview kept her up worrying all night, I was up with her.

She woke up half an hour later and rubbed her eyes, "Does my hair look okay?" She mumbled and I smirked,

"You just woke up and that's the first thing you ask?"

"We have to leave soon don't we? I don't want to redo my hair. Did you pack the swim suits?"

"You're kind of asleep on me, how do you think I could have packed the suits?"

She sighed, clearly annoyed and she got up to pack a small duffel bag herself. I walked by and grinned as she bent over to pack the bag and I couldn't help but bite my lip.

"Stop staring at my ass, can you get the pie out of the oven?" I nodded and put the pie in one of our cooler bag and we left.

When we showed up we were the second last car to get there, surprisingly it was Steve and Tessa that were late. Olivia gave me a worried glance before I squeezed her hand,

"Hey, if anything was wrong you know that she would call you." She nodded and we went inside, most of the families with kids had gotten a babysitter, in Johnny's case he would just put his girls to bed after dinner.

Dallas and Beth were chatting quietly when we walked in to the family room, Soda and Presley were talking to Pony and Audrey and Johnny was talking to Darry.

"Anyone heard from Steve?" I asked, shaking Darry's hand and giving Charolette a hug,

"Tessa texted me to say they were running a little behind but they should still be here before dinner." Charolette said, hugging Olivia. We nodded and went into the family room to join in on the conversations.

After half an hour Steve and Tessa came in, we could all tell that they'd been fighting. Steve's told me a few times that when they fight it's an all out blow up fight and from what Olivia's told me Tessa can't stand it. They plastered a fake smile on their faces and greeted everyone before we started dinner.

"You guys had the adoption interview today right? How did that go?" Ponyboy asked and I grinned,

"Well we think it went really well… Surprisingly our history with alcohol may help our case. She said it would still take a while but we have no preferences with a child- ages, gender, nothing, so we're hoping that that will speed the process up a bit." Charolette smiled,

"I'm sure that will definitely help your case. You guys just have to be ready if they confirm you that it's one call that changes everything." We both nodded,

"We're ready but we're scared," Olivia said, sipping her glass of wine.

"Well now is as good of a time as ever, Dallas is starting at my company as the head plumber." Darry said, wiping the corners of his mouth with a napkin.

We all grinned and congratulated them and finished dinner, starting the dishes so we could have a break before dessert. Elena and Johnny went to put the kids to bed and when they came back I knew I wasn't the only one that picked up on the fact that her hair was just a little messy and she was a tad red in the face. I grinned,

"Hey Johnnycakes, I think Elena's got a little something something on her chin." Elena blushed deeper and Johnny smirked,

"No she doesn't, she swallows it all." Elena blushed deeper and smacked his shoulder and he grinned at her.

"Why don't we head out to the back yard?" Darry offered and everyone nodded, some couples heading to different rooms to get changed while others went to change in the pool shed. Olivia and I changed in the living room, I couldn't help but watch as she changed, she was so beautiful.

When we walked out Elena was holding a glass of wine in her hand and she had her arms crossed, talking to Johnny who had his back to us.

"Shit kid, when the hell did you get inked?" Steve asked, walking out holding a beer.

He turned around and we saw that he had a piece on his side as well, "My side was the summer before I left here and the wings were just before I met Elena. Then I got the girls's names added as they were born."

We all nodded and noticed that Elena also had a tattoo on her calf, it looked like some type of family tree. Beth walked out holding Dally's hand and she had a dream catcher with a wolf in the hoop covering the side of her thigh. It was really good, and I knew it must have cost a fortune.

"Who isn't inked?" He asked, looking around. Darry and Audrey were the only two to raise their hand.

"Damn," I said and everyone with a tattoo shrugged. Pony came out holding a beer and I think everyone was shocked with the amount of tattoo's on his torso.

"Jesus Ponyboy when did those all happen?" Darry asked, eyeing his chest.

"Well this one on my side was before I left for college, the same time with Johnny, and the rest of them happened over the course of my schooling and my marriage."

"What do you have?" We asked, looking at Soda. He grinned wickedly and Presley sighed,

"He's got one right on his ass cheek."

"Oh what's that one?"

Soda grinned wickedly and turned so his back was to us and he dropped his trunks. There, right on his ass was her name.

"Ain't that classy," I said grinning. He pulled his trunks back up and we saw a better version of her name on his chest. Presley had his name on her chest as well and Darry grinned,

"So who doesn't have the name of their spouse on them besides Audrey and I?"

Charolette nodded, she had a beautiful piece of scenery on her shoulder blade, but other than those three everyone had the name of their significant other.

"What's that one?" Olivia asked Beth, there was two numbers visible from the side of her… Well.. Breast. She smiled and moved her… Breast, so that we could see the full tattoo,

"It's my badge number. Sometimes I have to go undercover for a case and it's not always easy to carry my badge on me in case."

"Yeah especially with the shit you have to wear," Dally said, looking at her hungrily. She smiled at us and shrugged,

"Sometimes I have to dress skimpy to get attention from the right suspect." We all nodded understandingly and noticed that Dallas's name was on her hips in gentle cursive writing.

"Well who would like something to drink?" Darry asked, going to the bar fridge that was built into the island facing their pool. Charolette went to go and get out a couple drink floaties and everyone ended up with an alcoholic beverage (except for the girls that were pregnant and Johnny).

Later that night during a Rated R version Olivia revealed one of her deepest secrets-

"Okay, Olivia, what is something that no one knows about you?" Ponyboy asked curiously.

Olivia swallowed hard and I took her hand tightly. We'd been talking about her telling the family about this, but I knew that it was going to be hard for her,

"Well… The only thing that no one knows… Besides Two-bit… Is that I'm bisexual." We both looked around as everyone was kind of quiet before Dally smiled,

"Thanks for trusting us enough to tell us Olivia." I knew that this meant the world to Olivia, she'd been struggling with this since I met her. The game continued shortly after and it was a rather interesting game. That was until it became my turn to answer a question.

Beth grinned, "Well you haven't gone yet so it's your turn," I figured I'd get something terribly girly like "how did I fall in love with Olivia" but it really shocked me when Beth had other things on her mind,

"Would you ever watch Olivia have sex with someone else?"

I bit my lip, that was a good question. Would I?

"Shit," I said, "I… I don't know. I don't think I could watch her get that intimate with someone else. I'd get too jealous and maybe a tad territorial. They wouldn't know what she likes and how to make her orgasm in under two minutes like I do. I guess my answer is no, I wouldn't."

Olivia smiled and took my hand. Later that night we were laying in bed, our arms wrapped around each other.

"How are you feeling babe?" I asked, hoping she knew what I was asking.

"I feel… I feel so accepted and welcomed with them." I smiled and kissed her head,

"I hope you're not offended by my answer to Beth's question but I just… I love you and I don't ever want to share you like that with someone."

"Two-bit had you have said yes I may have been a little worried. I may be bisexual but I don't want to be with anyone but you, physically and intimately. You're an amazing husband and a perfect best friend… And if I had to go through this whole thing with anyone I'm so glad it's with you." She said softly, leaning up to kiss me. I slipped my hand down her back slowly before grabbing her ass. She got the idea and climbed on top of me and started kissing down my body- tonight was looking better by the second.


	12. Chapter 12

Dallas

Hotel living only lasted about two weeks before we were sick of it. Beth had been trying to talk me into buying new furniture for the house and start getting the baby's nursery ready but all I could see was the bills that we had to pay.

Just as I was about to buy her plane ticket she came down with a cold, and it hit her hard. She was absolutely miserable, the doctor had given her medication but it hadn't been helping much. I'd already been working a week with Darry's company and the money was fantastic. He paid weekly, so it was a nice thing to look forward to every Friday.

Beth coughed and blew her nose, sniffling. I groaned, it was Saturday, but barely. It was only half past midnight and she was keeping me up.

"Jesus Beth," I grumbled, rubbing my face,

"Do you think I want to be sick?" She asked, coughing, "Do you think I really want to be feeling this miserable while I'm pregnant and just about to fly to New York?"

"You ain't going to New York, I told you. Your parents said they'd pack everything up themselves and bring it down, whatever we didn't want they're going to sell."

She laid back and sniffled, she looked absolutely miserable, yet somehow she still look beautiful to me.

"Why don't you try drinking some of the tea the doctor gave you?" I asked, and she looked over at me,

"How? How do you expect me to drink tea when we don't have a kettle?"

I threw the blankets back and flicked the light on for the tiny kitchenette, turning the water on so it was as hot as it was allowable. I let it run for a little while before putting it into a mug, tearing open the package and pouring it in. I mixed it before going back over and giving it to her. I made sure it was the drowsy tea so we could at least get some sleep tonight.

She drank it and put the cup on the nightstand, adjusting herself so she was laying down. She looked over at me and I gently rubbed her arm,

"How are you feeling?"

"Like shit," She said smiling. I chuckled and kissed her head, "Can we please go shopping? I got my last check today from the station in New York and it's more than enough to furnish the place… We should get it done before I get too fat."

"You ain't going to get fat."

"Yes I am, I'm going to get all big and gross and I'm not going to be able to shave or paint my toe nails or take care of my feet."

"You don't gotta do all those things." I said, and she smiled softly, putting her hand on my cheek,

"I do… I'll be gross if I don't."

I smirked, "You're having a baby. It's going to be gross no matter what. I promise I'll still like you even if your legs are hairy and your toes aren't painted. But you can go to a salon or something, can't you?"

"Dallas those places are crawling with infections and diseases. You could learn how to paint my toe nails and shave my legs." She said with a playful grin. I smirked and chuckled,

"Yeah right." "Oh really? I'm having your baby and you can't even paint my toe nails or shave my legs? It's not like I'm asking you to wax my-"

"Okay Jesus enough." She rolled her eyes,

"Steve helped Tessa out and shaved her legs."

"Well good thing I'm not Steve."

"Seriously Dallas?"

"What?"

"I'm carrying your damn baby and you can't even help me out?"

"Yeah okay. I knew this definitely wasn't going to end well."

"Oh my god. Does anything ever end well with you?"

" _Oh my god_." I said, and she huffed,

"I don't sound like that. I don't."

I mocked her and she glared at me, "Stop it. Stop. Just roll over and go to sleep. Leave me alone."

I groaned and I rolled over, and I felt her huff.

"While we're up can we talk about baby names?"

"Why? We have four months. We don't need to talk about names."

She it my arm, "Seriously? Seriously Dallas? Why are you still here? Clearly you don't want to help me raise this baby."

"Jeez, I don't know. It's not because I love you or anything."

"Yeah I didn't think so either."

I sat up and looked at her. I didn't realize I was glaring until her glare faltered.

"What do you want to name it?" I asked quietly, knowing full well that she knew the gender. She shrugged and I rolled my eyes. "I know you know the gender, don't play stupid with me."

"Well you didn't care about knowing so don't worry about it." I rolled my eyes, this was a terrible idea considering she's moody as shit right now.

"Seriously Beth. Either tell me the gender or at least some names you like."

"Fine… I like Theo for a boy… And Victoria for a girl."

I swallowed hard. "It's a boy?" She bit her lip before nodding, a smile slowly growing on her features. She knew that I absolutely hated the name Victoria- I'd slept with three different girls with that name. "We're… I'm having a son?"

"You're having a son… We're going to have a little boy."

I hugged her tightly, moving my hand so it was resting against her bump.

She kissed my neck softly and I rested my head on hers. This is the first time in this entire process that it hit me that she was having our baby.

"I've got a surprise for you tomorrow morning…" I said quietly, and she grinned,

"How am I supposed to sleep now?"

"Well we're going to get it at eight so you'd best be sleeping because you're going to need it."

She yawned and nodded, adjusting her pillows so there was one between her legs and a couple around her head.

I moved so my head was resting on her side and I fell asleep. My alarm was set for six thirty the next morning- not for me but for Beth. I could be out of bed and ready to go in ten minutes, where as she needed to shower, do her hair and make up and pick six different outfits to try.

She heard the alarm and got up, going to the tiny cramped shower and I could tell that she was hardly awake. I stayed in bed until she was getting dressed and I rolled out of bed, pulling on jeans and a tee shirt. She looked at me curiously and I grabbed the keys to the truck.

"We'll stop for breakfast first and then we'll go."

"Where did you want to go for breakfast?"

"I was thinking Two-bit's diner." I could see her cross her arms and I rolled my eyes,

"I won't even look at Sylvia, okay?" She rose her eyebrow before she nodded. We went out to the car and I drove to Two-bit's diner and we found an empty booth.

"Good morning, how can I help you?" A young girl said with a warm smile, and Beth smiled at her,

"Hi, can I get the bagel belt… With a plain bagel and a hashbrown, and a chocolate milk?" She nodded and wrote it down and she looked at me,

"I'll get the meal that has two of everything."

She smiled and wrote it down, "And would you like a coffee?"

I nodded, "Yeah, black if you have it, and if you have dark roast that'd be great."

She nodded and went back to the counter and put entered it onto the computer.

"She seems nice," Beth commented and I nodded,

"Yeah she does. I wonder if Two-bit's in this morning."

She shrugged and started moving out of the booth, "I'm just going to use the washroom."

I nodded and got my phone out of my pocket and texted one of the guys I worked with that had the surprise,

'All still good?'

He sent back, 'Yeah man, see you soon.'

I put my phone away and Beth came back out just as food was being put down.

"Hey, do you know if Two-bit is in this morning?" I asked, and the waitress nodded,

"He is, would you like me to get him for you?"

"No it's okay, thank you." I said, and once she walked away I texted Two-bit to let him know that Beth and I were here. As I expected he came down, but just as we were finishing our breakfast.

"Hey you two! How's it going?"

"Good man. The food here is fantastic." He grinned and shrugged,

"I would say it's thanks to me but that's why I hired some chefs." He said with a huge grin. Beth moved over on her side of the booth and he slid in beside her,

"You're looking good Beth. How far along are you now?"

"About five and a half months." He smiled and nodded,

"Well congratulations. Do you know the gender yet?"

Beth looked at me, we hadn't discussed my family knowing. Or anyone knowing for that matter,

"We do but we want to tell everyone at the same time."

He nodded understandingly and smiled,

"Well I'll let you two go, but we'll see you later."

I nodded and he went back upstairs. The waitress came over and handed us the receipt but the total was zero. I knew from last time it's because I'm Two-bit's brother (practically) so I knew that's why, but Beth insisted we leave the amount we would have paid in a tip. We went back out to the truck and we got in and I started driving. She seemed a little nervous when I pulled up to the house. I got out and she gave me a nervous look before getting out as well.

Chuck opened the door and waved,

"Hey Dallas!"

"Hey man, this is my fiancée, Beth. Beth this is Chuck from work, he's one of the framers."

"It's wonderful to meet you."

"You too. Come on in," He said, opening the door wider. We went in and a young woman (the same age as Chuck) smiled,

"Hi, I'm Marrisa, Chuck's wife."

"It's nice to meet you," Beth said, shaking her hand. She smiled and Chuck nodded at her,

"Can you go and grab the surprise for them babe?"

She smiled and nodded, going into one of the back rooms. Beth looked at me curiously and Marrisa came back out carrying a big puppy that was black and white.

"O-oh my god…" Beth exclaimed, eagerly taking him into her arms.

"These guys are called Great Danes. He's only eight weeks old, but he already weighs nineteen pounds."

"Oh… He's perfect," She said, wiping her eyes before looking at me, "Thank you so much…" I grinned and kissed her,

"You're welcome babe. He was their last pup and no one really wanted him because he's not one solid color."

"Thank you… Gosh I've wanted a Dane my whole life." She said, before I kissed her softly. I thanked Chuck before we went out to the truck and I started driving to the pet store.

"So you've got a dog… And we're having a baby… Will you be a stay at home Mom?"

"I knew you were up to no good… But yes… I've decided that I want to stay at home with the kids. But if money gets tight I want you to tell me okay? No money secrets now… Please."

"Of course. We have a joint account and you know I'm straight with money." She nodded and rubbed the puppy's head, he was huddled into her embrace. He was a cute dog, but I knew that she wanted one of these monsters her whole life, so when Chuck said I could take it off his hands free of charge I wasn't about to say no.

"You know we need a vet appointment for their shots right?"

"Yes, I've already booked one with the vet that Chuck was going to."

She kissed the puppies head and I reached over to pat him.

"What are you going to name him?" I asked, pulling into the parking lot,

"Theo… I've thought of a better name for our son."

"Oh yeah? It better not be some stupid name like Cash or something."

"No, Jack. Jack Tucker Winston."

I thought about this- my kid having my middle name definitely made me nervous. I did however feel proud that she wanted to name him after me.

"You're letting him take my middle name _and_ my last name?"

"Why not? I'm taking your last name?"

"You are? I thought you were against it."

"I was, but at the same time I hate my last name. Bonner is a terrible last name, and unfortunately my brothers are going to carry it on- given they get around to getting married and having kids."

I chuckled a little and she shook her head, "You giggle like a school girl every time someone says it."

I shrugged, "Whatever you say, Elizabeth _Boner_."

" _Haha_ , real original idiot."

I grinned and we went into the store and started getting what we needed.

"How are we supposed to take care of him and go furniture shopping?" She asked and I grinned,

"Put a coat on and hide him in it."

"That would not work. No way."

She started looking at collars and leashes before putting a couple in the cart. We grabbed a couple dog beds, and some dishes before getting a bag of dog food.

Some girls came by and made a huge deal about the dog, which Beth loved, I could tell she couldn't wait to show him off. I got my wallet out to pay and she leaned up to kiss me in thanks. I knew that this was making her forget how terrible she felt, hopefully she'd start sleeping more.

"Are you going to help me with taking him out in the night?" She asked and I shrugged,

"I doubt it."

"What if someone tries to attack me?"

"You're an ex cop, I'm sure you'd kick their ass just as good as I would."

She sighed and we went back out to the truck, going to the hotel. She put the collar and leash onto Theo and brought him outside to pee. I went into our room and checked my cell phone, one thing I always did when I was with Beth was put my phone away, half the time I didn't have it on me or even turned on if I was with her.

The phone started to ring and I glanced down to see it was our real estate agent in New York, Claire.

"Hey Claire, what's up?"

"Hey, I just got an offer for your apartment." She said, and I started to feel giddy.

"Hang on, let me call Beth up here." I went over to the door and looked over, waving to get her attention before waving for her to come in. She picked up Theo and brought him inside, and I put Claire on speaker,

"Hi Claire!" Beth said excitedly, holding Theo as if he were a baby (Which he absolutely loved).

"Hi Beth! I have great news, you two got an offer on your apartment!"

"Oh that's fantastic!" Beth said, looking at me with nervous but excited eyes.

"Yep, they offered you forty percent over asking price. They wanted you to be interested in their offer specifically, with the open house there was small talk between potential buyers of putting offers in."

"Oh my gosh… That's… That's amazing." Beth said, looking at me. I nodded,

"Okay… Well… Can we have a couple minutes to think about it Claire?"

"Yeah of course! I'll email you all of their conditions and requests okay?"

"Sounds good." I hung up and immediately heard my phone chime, and I read the conditions out to Beth.

"Wow… I can't believe how much we're going to make on that apartment."

"I know… We're making a lot on it."

"What do you think? Should we take the offer?"

I nodded, "Let's do it. The conditons are normal, we know it's going to pass inspection, there's no risks for us."

She grinned and I kissed her passionately, "Congratulations on selling our first place baby." I said, rubbing her back.


	13. Chapter 13

Steve

"Are you alright?" I asked softly, glancing over at Tessa. She nodded, rubbing her bump. We'd just gotten off of the phone with the doctor and her obstetrician had told her that for the safety of the baby her labor needed to be induced. We were on our way there now, luckily we finished moving everything in yesterday and just finished getting the nursery together. I reached over to take her hand in mine, I knew she was scared- hell I was too.

We pulled into the parking lot and I quickly went around to help her out of the truck. It was times like this I was glad I had a truck and not a car- I'm not sure she'd be able to get in or out of it. We went in quietly, the doctor had been able to fit us in and we literally knew nothing about inducing labor.

"Theresa?" The receptionist called. We stood up and she smiled, leading us to one of the examination rooms.

"The doctor will be in in one moment." Tessa nodded and a couple minutes later her doctor came in, Dr. Roy Hilliard.

I personally hated the fact that she had a male obstetrician, but it didn't matter to me- it was what made Tessa comfortable.

"Hello hello! Thanks for coming in so quickly." He said, taking a seat in his office type chair.

"So, I know you're almost a week and a half past your due date and to reduce the risk of stress of you and the baby I think it's best we induce labor. There's two ways you can do that, one is rather painful and it involves me sweeping the membranes away, but most women experience pain and I don't like using that method. The one I'd like to use uses pills, they're inserted into your vagina and they release hormones to jump start the labor. They need to be inserted every 12 hours," He looked at me and I nodded,

"Show me how to do it and I will Doc." He nodded and went to grab a bottle and Tessa gripped my hand in hers tightly.

"I love you baby… You can do this."

The doctor came back and showed me how to put the pills in and he smiled,

"Okay so now we wait. It could take a couple hours or a couple days still. When you go into labor, head back here to the hospital and we'll get started! I'll see you both soon." He said before leaving us. Tessa took my hand and I helped her up from the bed, going to the receptionist to pay before going back out to the truck. Olivia and Two-bit had babysat Julian for us- we were going to Olivia and Two-bit's place for dinner tonight.

I got along alright with her father but I couldn't stand her mother. She always made Tessa feel like shit and did her absolute best to make both girls miserable. When Tessa was pregnant with Julian her mother kept commenting on her weight, and when she didn't lose the baby fat right away her Mom convinced her I was going to leave. She also convinced Olivia (who was a virgin when she met Two-bit) that if she didn't put out he'd get bored and leave.

Thankfully both girls were trying their hardest to make sure they didn't become like their mother. We drove to Two-bit and Olivia's place, they were having the dinner at their house tonight. When we pulled up we were both relieved that we were here before her parents.

"Babe? Did you want Two-bit and Olivia to be the baby's god parents?" I asked and she nodded,

"Yes, let's keep it the same for Julian and our baby." She said, rubbing her bump. We went out and knocked on the door. Two-bit came and opened it smiling,

"Hey, we were just playing castle," He said and I grinned,

"He loves that game." We went in and Olivia looked up from where she was having a tea party with Julian and waved, so I went with Two-bit and sat with them and Tessa sat on the couch,

"How was your appointment?" Olivia asked, looking up at Tessa.

"It was alright, I'm on pills so that it'll help jump start the labor but that could take anywhere from hours or days."

"Oh, I'm sorry hun, I know it can't be easy." Tessa nodded and Julian eagerly climbed to sit into my lap, snuggling into my side. I smiled and kissed his head softly, rubbing his back,

"Would it be okay if I joined your tea party?" I asked and he nodded, giggling,

"Yes dada!" I grinned and got a cup and pretended to sip from it,

"Wow, this is very good tea." I said and he giggled,

"Da queen make it!" He exclaimed, pointing to Olivia.

She grinned and I smiled, "Well thank you Queen." We continued having a tea party before Julian yawned and Olivia smiled,

"Did you want to have a nap baby?" He nodded and curled into my torso, gripping my shirt. I smiled gently at Olivia,

"Don't worry about putting him in bed, I'll just keep him with me," I said, moving to sit beside Tessa and Olivia came over carrying a blanket to cover him with. Julian was my pride and joy, and Tessa was right. I was being too hard on him- I mean he's only three years old.

"So your adoption interview went good?" Tessa asked and I could tell she looked exhausted,

"Yeah it went good. Did you want to go and lay down hun?" Two-bit asked, and I figured that she would say no. But so did everyone else, "Tess, come on, I'll help you to the guest room. You're going to need all of the sleep you can get okay?" She nodded and he helped her up, bringing her to the guest room.

"We signed up with two agencies… One was the national adoption agency and the other was a private agency… The interview was with the private agency. So we're hoping that because it's private… We get a baby faster."

I nodded, "Well that's good, I mean it will hopefully be faster for you guys, there's nothing worse than waiting." She nodded and Two-bit came back out, sitting beside Olivia.

"Are you ready for my Mother?" She asked, looking at us. I sighed and shrugged,

"Like usual I won't say anything- unless she starts attacking Tessa, or you for that matter." I said and Two-bit nodded in agreement.

"I've had enough of your mother picking on you both and I'm getting tired of you letting her walk all over you. She's your mother, I get it, but at the same time she shouldn't be treating you like this." Two-bit said and Olivia sighed,

"I know. But you realize that without our mother our children won't have grandparents."

"We still have my mother." Two-bit said pointedly and she sighed.

"Look, it's gotta be hard but your Mom treats you both like shit and always puts you both down. I never really had a mother, but based on Two-bit's Mom and the Curtis's Mom… Your mother shouldn't make you hate yourself or be self conscious. You both deserve to be treated better and that's why it bothers us." I said. Both Olivia and Two-bit gave me a sideways glance. I sighed,

"Yes, Tessa has made me more sensitive." They smirked and then the door opened, her parents coming in. Olivia quickly jumped up to hug them and take their coats,

"Hello Keith, Steven." Mr. Hall said. Out of everyone in the gang, Two-bit and I were the only ones that didn't call our in-laws Mom or Dad. Mr. and Mrs. Hall insisted that we don't actually. We both nodded and said hello, and Mrs. Hall came around from behind the couch.

"It's not good to be treating Julian like a baby. Especially with the new one on the way. He's three years old."

I rolled my eyes, "Alright Mrs. Hall."

Both Two-bit and I were still not acceptable to the Halls, based on the fact that Two-bit asked for Olivia's hand in marriage and Mr. Hall said no (he went ahead and asked anyways obviously) and I didn't even bother asking them for her hand in marriage, I just proposed.

"Give him to me. I'll put him to bed for you." She said sternly and I narrowed my eyebrows,

"My son is fine here, thank you." She huffed and went into the kitchen. Two-bit rolled his eyes and I nodded in agreement. Two-bit turned on a hockey game and Mr. Hall was quiet and we all watched the game while Olivia was in the kitchen with her Mom. About an hour later Tessa came out of the guest room, rubbing her eyes. She looked refreshed but still tired. I leaned up to kiss her, Julian was also just waking up.

"How did you sleep?" I asked, using one arm to help support her as she sat on the couch.

"Well, not as good as when I'm in your arms," She admitted quietly, "Two-bit, thank you for letting me nap."

"Of course Tess." Her parents came back out to the living room and her mother looked at Tessa,

"Have you brushed your hair today?"

"I just got out of bed. I haven't had the chance to brush it yet." She said. I wondered why it even mattered, it was only family here. Mrs. Hall sighed and I took Tessa's hand tightly.

Julian looked around sleepily before seeing Tessa, and he smiled sleepily at her, adjusting so he was cuddling against her. She rubbed his back and kissed his head,

"Did you sleep good?" She asked, stroking his cheek. He nodded and yawned,

"Ya Mama."

"Yes." Mrs. Hall corrected, "Yes Mom."

I grit my teeth, "He's only three. Let's cut back on the correcting." I said, knowing it makes Julian shy to talk with his Grandmother constantly correcting him. He's told me that he doesn't like staying with her during the day because of that. I'd be damned if I let Mrs. Hall bully my wife and my son.

I knew Julian really appreciated it, though he probably didn't really understand what I said, because he reached to hold my hand against him. Tessa sighed and looked at her Mom,

"We were at the doctor today, they're trying to induce labor."

"Oh thank god. You're about ready to pop sweetie." She said and I started wondering if she was bi-polar or something.

"Did you figure out your work out plan for once the baby is born?" She questioned and I shook my head,

"She doesn't need a work out program."

"He's only saying that so no one else will want you." She retorted to Tessa who looked ready to cry and I grit my teeth,

"I've had enough. I've had enough of you bullying my son and my wife. And until you start respecting the both of them you won't be hearing from us nor will you be welcome in our place. I don't know why the fuck you think it's okay to treat your daughter like this but this is bullshit." I said, picking Julian up and resting him on my waist, helping Tessa up,

"My wife and my son are absolutely perfect. If you weren't so shallow and you spent time getting to know Julian you'd learn he's a fantastic kid. You'd also fucking know that Tessa is extremely self conscious thanks to you. Her looks and weight don't matter to me. I didn't fall in love with her body, I fell in love with her personality. I don't want you at the hospital when my child is born." I said, fishing the keys out of my pocket, looking at Olivia and Two-bit,

"Thanks for letting Tessa nap and watching Julian." With that we walked out, and I buckled Julian into his car seat before helping Tessa into the truck. Once she was buckled in she started to cry. I stood beside her and hugged her as best as I could,

"I love you… I love you… I'm sorry I lost it but I'm so tired of her treating you like garbage." I said, kissing her head. She wiped her eyes and sniffled,

"I'm… T-Thank you for sticking up for me," She said, hiccuping. I kissed her forehead,

"I'll always stick up for you babe." She sniffled and kissed me softly. I kissed her back before starting the drive to the farm. When we got there Presley was sitting on the front porch with her Mom while Soda and one of her brothers ran around the front yard playing with the twins and their dogs. I got out and helped Tessa out and then unbuckled Julian, going up to the porch with Tessa,

"Sweetheart are you okay?" Presley's Mom asked and she tried to smile and nod, but her Mom was having none of it. "Nonsense. Come, let me get you some tea. Sit down sweetie," She said. But instead of it being commanding like Tessa's mother, it was soft and comforting. Tessa sat on the swing and Presley took her hand.

"Hey Julian! I need a little back up!" Soda called, he was on the ground and the twins were on top of him. I put him down and he giggled, going over, but instead of helping Soda he just joined in on wrestling him to the ground. Presley's Mom came out and sat on Tessa's other side with a mug full of tea.

"You don't need that kind of negativity in your life sweetie. You are part of our family now," She said, wrapping her arms around Tessa and stroking her hair softly.

"Thank you," Tessa whispered, and Presley grinned,

"I guess I'll share my Mom with you." Tessa giggled and sniffled, wiping her eyes,

"Thank you so much for letting us move in here, it's been so much off of our backs… Steve's spending more time with Julian and we couldn't be happier." Presley smiled and kissed her cheek,

"Of course sweetie. I got this house handed to me, I know not everyone is that lucky. But it'll be nice to have someone else in the house while Soda's on business trips and horse auctions." Tessa smiled and nodded in agreement.

A pretty sweet looking Range Rover pulled into the driveway and I saw Pony in the drivers seat and I noticed Audrey in the passenger seat.

"They took the girl's apple picking," Presley said, waving. Just as they were getting out of the vehicle I heard Tessa gasp. I whipped my head around and I saw her flinching, moving awkwardly. I immediately ran down the stairs to get her overnight bag and her pillow, when I came back up she was gritting her teeth and her hands were on either side of her bump,

"Okay babe, breathe with me," I said, kneeling in front of her, taking a deep breath. Presley was also by her side, and Presley's Mom was keeping track of the time between contractions.

Once they were about twenty minutes apart I helped her into the car, laying her down in the back seat. Soda took the keys from me and started driving while I helped support her in the back seat.

The drive felt like forever and I wasn't even the one in labor. When we got there everything was a blur. We signed her in and we were brought into a waiting room where they had her situated in a bed to wait for her to be fully dilated. Soda had offered to call our family and I nodded, I knew I couldn't leave her alone.

It was almost five hours before she was fully dialated and then another two hours in the delivery room. However my wife took it like a champ and she didn't scream once (though it felt like she broke my hand).

"Congratulations!" Doctor Hilliard said when we heard a baby start to cry, "It's a girl!" Tessa laid back, tears running down her face. The nurses took her and started taking down her weight and cleaned her off before handing her to Tessa. She sniffled and kissed her head, resting her head on hers gently. I took my cell phone out and got a picture of the two of them. I sat beside her, gently stroking my daughter's cheek. We hadn't really talked about girl's names, that was one thing we couldn't decide on.

"Natalie Sophia Randle," Tessa whispered and I wiped my eyes.

"Babe… Are you sure?" I sniffled.

"Yes I'm sure, I know your Mom meant the world to you Steve, the least we could do Is honour her." I sniffled again and kissed her softly. She smiled and gently stroked my cheek, before gently handing me Natalie. I kissed her head,

"She's perfect," I whispered, looking her eyes as she looked around curiously.

"Did you want to take her out to meet the family?" She asked and I kissed her,

"Why don't we wait until they transfer you to your room and we'll have them come and see her?" She nodded in agreement and I gently put Natalie back on her chest. The nurse came over smiling,

"Have you two decided how you'll be feeding Natalie?" She asked and Tessa nodded,

"I'm going to breast feed," Tessa said, and the nurse nodded,

"Okay, now I know this is your second child so have you breastfed before or will this be your first time?"

"This will be my first time, we used formula with our son."

"Okay, I could show you if you'd like."

Tessa nodded and moved her breast out of her night gown. The nurse guided Tessa through every step and Natalie took her boob happily.

"Now there will be times that your baby won't want your nipple, and you just need to try your best to have her take it. And once your doctor suggests you'll need a pump to start monitoring what she eats. But your doctor will come in and speak with you about this topic in specifics and give you some hand outs."

"Okay." Tessa agreed, looking down at Natalie as she ate.

"Once she's done eating we're going to transfer you to a room okay?" We nodded and once Natalie was done eating and she burped the nurses moved Tessa's bed to a private room,

"Oh… I think we're in the wrong room." I said, noticing that no one else was here.

"Theresa Randle, right? Your chart says P347."

"What? We were supposed to be in a semi private, that's all that insurance can cover."

"The bill has already been paid and you were upgraded to a private room."

"That's… That's not possible. Do you know who made the payment?"

"Well.. The receipt says E. Cade."

"Okay… Thanks." I said, and we sat quietly while Natalie slept. She was so precious, and perfect. She already had a head of hair, dark brown hair that resembled mine.

"Did you want to go and get them now?" She asked and I nodded, walking over to see the gang. Everyone was there, most of them didn't have their kids.

"Hey y'all… Did you want to come and meet your niece?" They all grinned and I noticed most of them had balloons that said "It's a girl!" And most of the girls were holding gift bags. I smiled and lead them into the room and Tessa looked up grinning,

"Hi guys… This is Natalie Sophia." The guys all looked at me grinning and I shrugged,

"It was her idea." I said grinning and they all started taking pictures.

"Here, we got this for you guys," Darry said, and everyone placed a bag on Tessa's bed. I sat beside her, holding Natalie as she slept.

"You guys shouldn't have…" Tessa said quietly and Soda smiled and shrugged,

"It's too late, we already did." He said playfully and she started opening the bags. The guys had gotten us some girls clothes, teddies, bibs, and hats.

"We know that you only have Julian's old stuff so we wanted Natalie to have her own clothes."

Tessa sniffled and wiped her eyes, "Thank you guys so much…" Two-bit smiled and kissed her head,

"Of course."

Once everyone had visited for an hour or so everyone started heading out, before I cleared my throat,

"Johnny? Elena?" They smiled and waited for everyone to leave and I swallowed hard,

"I just… I just wanted to say thank you… Thank you very much."

Elena smiled, "Of course guys, don't worry about it."

We smiled and they hugged us both and left. I gave Natalie back to Tessa and she moved her night gown to start feeding her.

"She's perfect baby… Absolutely perfect." I whispered, kissing Tessa softly.


	14. Chapter 14

Ponyboy

The day after Natalie was born I should have known that Audrey would have had the baby blues. Natalie was beautiful, she looked so much like Tessa, where Julian was then spitting image of Steve.

Presley and Soda had cancelled lessons for the next day and Soda offered to take himself up on his offer and they had the kids for the day. At the last second I was able to get one of the nicer suites at the Ambassador Hotel for the day and the night. Audrey loved that hotel, that was even where I proposed to her.

I packed us a small bag, we didn't need much besides maybe a change of clothes, I planned to spend most of the time naked to make up for the time we lost. We kissed the girls head at nine, Soda had given us a knowing grin before we left and I drove there.

"Ponyboy, I don't know how I feel about leaving them for a night…" She said worriedly. This would be the first time ever that the girls wouldn't be with us at night but I knew they were plenty safe with Soda and Presley there.

"They're going to be fine baby, they'll probably have a blast with the twins, watching movie and playing games." I said, taking her hand, following the directions on the GPS to the hotel. She grinned when she saw where we had pulled up to and I let her get out before going to park. I walked back with the bag and took her hand, going inside.

When I got to the front desk I got my wallet out, "Reservations for Curtis, please."

"Okay, can I see government issued identification and can I have the license plate of your car?"

I handed them my drivers license and Audrey reached into her purse to get out her insurance card with the license plate number. I heard a small gasp and I looked up to see a red head that looked vaguely familiar.

I looked at her name tag and read 'Sherri' and I smiled,

"Cherry, how's it going? This is my wife Audrey. Audrey, this is an old friend from high school."

Audrey smiled, "It's nice to meet you Cherry." Cherry's eyes didn't leave Audrey's left hand for almost five seconds before she smiled at us,

"Yes, you as well. It was good to see you again Ponyboy. Enjoy your stay." She said, handing us a card. I grinned and slipped it into my back pocket before taking Audrey's hand, going to our room. She smiled and once we got into the elevator I felt her lips on mine,

"I love you," I whispered and she grinned,

"I love you too." She said, before I led her to the room. I unlocked it and she walked in, grinning when she recognized it,

"Oh Ponyboy… You shouldn't have." I smiled and dug through the bag before pulling out a small box, handing it to her.

"I love you Audrey, and I'm so sorry these last few months have been especially hard on us. I love you so much, you mean the world to me-hell you are my world. I promise I'll stop working so much and be home with you and the girls more." I said, handing her the box. She smiled softly and opened it, inside were a pair of diamond earrings and a ring that had fours stones- one for all of our birth months. She sniffled and wiped her eyes,

"It's beautiful Ponyboy, thank you so much." She said, slipping the ring on the ring finger of her right hand and she put her earrings in, getting up to kiss me.

She moved so she was sitting in my lap, leaning down to kiss me. Audrey was the first girl I've ever been with that can go for several rounds (and by several I mean four or five times). She giggled and moved over so she was laying her head on my chest.

"Let's order some take out, I'm starving."

"You're starving?" I asked grinning playfully and she slapped my leg. I reached over for the menu off of the night stand and started looking,

"What did you want babe?"

"What's in the area to order?" She questioned, I could tell her eyes were closed.

"Chinese is right down the road, how does that sound?"

"Sounds great to me babe. Get a lot, I'm starving and we can put the extra in the refrigerator and have it for dinner." I nodded and called, ordering the take out before turning on the television.

We started watching a dramatic television show when I felt her start to move and look up at me,

"Pony? Can… Can we talk about having another baby please?"

I sighed, "Audrey what's there to talk about? I hardly have enough time to spend with you and the girls never mind another baby."

"I work from home, you said you were going to cut your hours back and you promised me yesterday you'd stop working weekends… Our house has the room, I want another baby."

"Audrey no. I don't want another kid. You know that I didn't want any kids to begin with."

"And now you have two, that you love and cherish as much as I do."

"Yes but that's not the point Audrey. The point is I didn't want kids and Maddie was an accident and so was Harri."

"The point is you thought of the absolute worst but you have two daughters and you're their entire world. We have the room and the money for another child and we can do it."

"I know we can! We could also own a house in Hawaii and a helicopter but we don't!"

"What the hell? Why don't you want another baby?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Why do you? Huh? We agreed two before we got married and once we made our marriage official you started begging for another baby!"

"What are you trying to say? That I trapped you into having a family?"

"Maybe." I said stubbornly. She grit her teeth and went to the washroom joined to the room before slamming the door and locking it. I sighed and laid back, putting my arms behind my head. She came out twenty minutes later and sat beside me.

"I'm sorry that I tried to pressure you into having another baby. I realize that… it was rude and it wasn't fair of me. There are a lot of factors to think about."

I watched my wife, and I could tell that she looked absolutely exhausted.

"Audrey… I'm going to start working less. I promise. I know my promises about working less have always fallen through but I think… I was thinking about using the guest house as a practice. I think… Once we get home and I keep my promise about cutting my hours we can talk about another baby okay?"

She nodded but knew that something else was wrong, "Are… Are you scared of having another baby?"

"Audrey I'm scared of being a terrible dad. I don't know what to talk to Maddie about, I don't know anything that she's interested in and I hardly know Harri. If we have a third baby I'll have to juggle everything… As the girls grow up it'll only get worse. They'll grow to hate me and… A-and because they hate me you'll resent me and you guys will all walk out on me and I-I can't lose you guys."

"Ponyboy… You've worked hard enough these last few years that you don't have to any more. The girls don't have to go to a private school, okay? I want us to raise another baby… I want another mini us running around. I'll give up my career for the first little while, I'll let my patients know I'm taking time off to focus on our family."

I nodded and hugged her tightly, "I'm sorry I pushed you away, but I'm so scared of being a terrible dad. When I wanted to become a doctor I wasn't planning on getting married or having a family but you changed all of that."

"I love you okay? You're not a terrible dad. You'll never be a terrible dad. A terrible dad is someone that skips their daughters recital on purpose, but you didn't miss Maddie's. You showed up, with flowers and chocolate and a teddy and that's all she wanted was to make you proud."

"I was late…" I said softly and she kissed me,

"That didn't matter. She didn't care that you came in during the middle of her performance. You went to the stage when she stopped because she was so nervous and you told her to look at you and only you, and she did and she completed her routine. Ponyboy what you see as mistakes we don't. Okay, so you're late every once in a while, but when it counts you still make it and you're still there. We love you Ponyboy."

"I… Okay… I'll… I'll stop working so much… And… The girls don't need to go to a private school so… Let's have another baby."

She grinned and took both of my hands in hers, "Are you sure Ponyboy?"

I nodded and kissed her, "I'm sure baby. Let's do it, please."

She smiled and kissed me, wrapping her arms around my neck.

By the time Chinese showed up we had already been through two more rounds. We stopped to eat and I kissed her softly. I knew that I didn't constantly have to reassure her that I loved her so I gently caressed her thigh. She grinned and kissed me softly, before getting more. God I love this woman.

"Do you think it'll be a boy or a girl?" She asked me, and I smiled,

"I hope a boy… If it's a boy he should be Liam. After your Dad." Audrey grinned widely,

"That's what I was going to say. What about a girl?"

"How about Ashley?"

"Ew no, I hated an Ashley in highschool."

"What about Hannah?"

She smiled and nodded, "I love it." I grinned and kissed her, moving so we were resting against the head board and watching the movie. The two of us haven't done anything like this since Maddie was born. Once she was born any type of bonding and naked cuddling went right out the window- we didn't want her seeing something she shouldn't have.

Once we were finished eating she moved so she was resting against me. I yawned and she grinned tiredly,

"How about we nap and pick this up in a little while?" I nodded in agreement and we got under the covers before falling asleep.

I woke up first, the television glowing in the dark room. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the clock. It was now close to nine at night and I carefully stretched, I didn't want to wake Audrey up. I grabbed my phone off of the nightstand and checked my notifications and my emails, there were lots from Doctor Cross, just keeping me updated on my patients and some from concerned parents or doctors from the hospital to let me know the progress of other patients. I changed apps and sent Soda and Presley a text to see how the girls were doing and almost immediately I got a picture of the girls sitting with the twins and watching Finding Nemo. I grinned and replied to the group message with the two of them and I got a message separately from Soda: How's everything going?

Good, been busy all day… We're having another baby. I answered and I saw the '…' bubble pop up before I felt my phone vibrate again,

She finally talked you into it?

Yes and no. She helped me realize there's nothing to worry about.

Lol kiddo, it's like we told Dallas. There's no more 'no'.

Yeah yeah. Have the girls been good?

They've been fantastic. They're all sleepy now so we're going to put them to bed. The twins will share a bed and we'll put Maddie and Harri in one of the twins beds'.

Okay man thanks. Good night.

I put my phone down and started rubbing Audrey's back softly. She was still deep in her sleep and I turned the television down so I wouldn't wake her and I started replying to the emails that needed to be answered before warming myself some more Chinese while she slept peacefully.


	15. Chapter 15

Darry

I kissed Charolette softly as I got out of bed. The sun wasn't even up yet but I had to be on one of our sites today to give Dallas a tour and have him meet the other team members. I had put him on Olivia's team so he would know someone at least. I changed into a pair of dark washed jeans and one of my company's button up shirts, I had to stop at the office first and meet Dallas and Olivia there so that we'd car pool and I could get Dallas a uniform. I went into each of the kids rooms and kissed their heads before going downstairs and packing my lunch. Besides the tour and uniform, Dallas would be signing his contract and then I had a meeting with the city in hopes of getting another property to start a new community.

When I pulled up at my office half an hour later I put in my passcode before going in, Olivia was already waiting in my office,

"Good morning Olivia," I said, putting my brief case in my drawer and locking it.

"Morning Darry… I um… Wanted to talk to you about a possible maternity leave… There's nothing stating one in my contract and you know Two-bit and I are hoping to adopt…"

"You can have a year Olivia, if you need longer we'll talk about it when the time comes." I said, logging into my laptop and putting that in writing for her,

"Here you go." I said signing it before handing it to her,

"Darry I know you never go back on your word."

I smiled, "I know, but this is to put your nerves and Two-bit's nerves at ease. You've worked real hard for me since I hired you on, you went back to school when I asked and now you're my project manager."

I heard my phone start ringing and I saw Dallas's number,

"Good morning Dallas," I said, leaning back in my chair,

"Hey man, what kind of coffee do you like?"

"Black."

"And Olivia?"

"Double double for her."

"Okay great. I'll be there in five." He hung up and I grabbed the keys to one of the work trucks and nodded at Olivia. She picked her lunch bag up,

"I'm just going to grab my hard hat and boots from my car." I nodded and went out, starting the truck. Dallas pulled in and parked beside Olivia's car, getting out carrying a tray of coffee's and a lunch bag, he had his boots on his feet loosely and the hard hat resting half hazardly on his head. He followed Olivia over and got into the back seat, handing out the coffee's,

"I didn't think you'd be making your own lunch." I commented playfully, starting the drive.

"Nah I didn't, Beth did."

"Ah," Olivia said with a grin and he grinned and shook his head,

"Well if I didn't she'd get on me about going back to the gym. She "loves" me but doesn't want me to get fat like the typical tradesman."

"Hey!" I said, glancing back at a red light. He grinned,

"Sorry, you still look great superman. Still hitting the gym?"

"For your information, yes."

"Good for you man. We used to go to the gym in NY but that was before we found out she was pregnant. Then we decided we were moving so now we just need to get to a gym and she found a doctor for a check up and to see what she can and can't do."

"Have you found out the gender?" Olivia asked, turning in her seat to look at him. He shook his head,

"Beth knows but she won't tell me."

"Do you want to know?"

"Yeah, we gotta start buying shit for the kid."

I sighed and shook my head, pulling into the construction site. I pulled into a parking spot at the front and Olivia smiled when she saw the guys working.

"These guys think I don't know that they were just fucking around."

I laughed and we got out and started walking around, we introduced Dallas to the workers and we started bringing him around. Our last plumber had retired after a car accident and I was in a tight spot until Dallas agreed to work for me. He'd done mainly commercial work, but with the contract that I offered I knew it was more than he'd hoped for. Our old plumber had been close to retirement anyhow, with almost thirty years of experience, but I knew with the company growing as quick as it was I could offer Dallas the same pay rate that Frank had.

"So I asked Beth to stay at home and not go back to the force," He said, walking beside me as we went to the back of the community to start by working our way up.

"What did she say?" I asked, walking into the house to inspect it.

"She's going to think about it. I have to agree to at least two kids and a dog for her to say yes."

"And?"

"Well… If it keeps her out of the field I figure why the hell not?"

"Dallas signing up for another kid isn't 'why the hell not'. There's more to being a dad than you may think. It's not just getting a girl pregnant and staying around. You have to help your kids learn, you are their hero."

"I know that man, believe me I've heard all about it from Johnny and Beth's step dad. Is being a dad the hardest thing you've ever done?" He questioned, cocking an eyebrow.

"No. Being married or raising you boys was harder."

"Married huh?"

"When you get married, you vow to love the other person no matter the situation. That isn't always easy. Love isn't just a feeling Dallas, it's a choice. When you marry the woman you're in love with, it's not just a woman. She has to be your best friend or it won't work. You can't give up, there is no giving up when you get married and start a family. There's no more running off to a bar and getting drunk and sleeping around. You can't do that to your wife. There are times that you want to give up, times you've threatened to call it quits but you don't. I wouldn't necessarily say that things immediately change when you get married but… Girls want you to be home more, they want to go out with you more, you're their husband, and you're both equal in the marriage and in parenting."

"Huh," He said, before looking at the piping that had already been done.

"I'm not saying don't get married. When you love someone the next step is to get married. It's clear that you love Beth, so marry her. But just know it's not always easy."

"I know that much. I haven't told her about the wedding yet either. We both decided to push it back until after the baby was born."

"How do you feel about the baby?" I asked now that we were alone. Dallas and I had had a few… "heart to heart" conversations back before he left for New York and I was hoping to get through to him again.

"I… I dunno. I mean raising a kid can't be that bad… Beth knows what she's doing."

"Do you want to be a father?"

He shrugged, "I would have been happy if she didn't get pregnant."

However something in his voice told me this wasn't entirely the case.

"Okay Dallas, whatever you say."

He sighed and it seemed like he struggled for words, "I… I love her. That I do. I don't know how to be a dad man. It isn't easy. I know that much. If I fuck up my kids will be fucked up like I was… Or like Two-bit and Steve. I don't know how to be a dad. I wanted kids with her, yeah, but then I realized that… They're human beings that look for me for a direction in their life and I don't know what direction to send them on."

"Dal, that's why guys can't grow kids on our own. That's why you typically have a wife or husband around. Two minds are better than one. Some women have the mothering instinct. Some guys do, most don't though. It's hard, trying to balance between being the strict parent and trying to be their friend, but at the end of the day your child is a reflection of your parenting. If you're a lax parent, chances are your child won't be listening to you, they'll be pushing boundaries and trying to gauge your trust. However, if you set boundaries, if you learn when to be strict, things will change entirely. And your parenting can't change from one child to another or that just wrecks things and the trust you had built with every child."

He sighed and nodded, "Alright… Alright."

"You just have to be honest with Beth about all of this." He nodded and we started moving from house to house before meeting Olivia in one of the houses. She was talking to one of the gas technicians about changing piping- the pipes had been undersized without her knowledge and had to get redone.

"Olivia, ready to finish the rest of the tour?" I asked, and she nodded, finishing her conversation with the technician before we finished the tour.

"What do you think?" I asked, as sat in the truck.

"Looks great. Do you guys hire apprentices?"

"Yes, we've already got a couple here but one of them can't do a whole lot because he's only a first year."

"Alright. Sounds good. Everything looks good so far, there are newer methods of doing things obviously, but yeah. Looks great."

I drove back to the office and parked, taking them both into my office.

"Okay, so on site Olivia is the one that you report to. She will approve any budget changes- through me, of course- and she is the one to typically make the tough calls. If you have any worries or any issues, you can see her about and it and between the both of you; you can determine wether your issue is an HR related issue or if it's something that can be resolved between you and the other person.

"As you can tell I'm not typically in the field much, most days I'm out of the office in meetings, but I also work from home. Obviously you have my number, but most guys don't. They go through Olivia or the other project managers. I wouldn't have time to run our company if every technician came running to me. We've got enough branches here that I'm constantly busy." I said, opening up his contract and printing a couple copies. I went through it with him, requiring both his signature and Olivia's signature as well as my own. He'd gone through two interviews, both times with some of my HR staff, Olivia and another one of my project managers.

"Alright great. Let's go and get your uniform." I said, taking him into the storage room with all of the uniforms and equipment. We had hard hats that most men wore, obviously you could wear your own but we supplied all of our guys with everything they needed to work safe. I supplied Dallas with pants, shirts, hats, sweaters, vests, safety equipment, and a coat.

"I noticed your hard hat has been altered, here." I said, handing him one.

"Man I don't need this."

"You may not need it, but I'm providing it. You hat could have damages that you can't see because of the stickers. Now it's up to you what you decide to wear. Safety equipment is always necessary and so is your uniform." I said, logging the uniform items into the computer and printing a log, again a couple copies for him to sign, disclosing that I'd provided the necessary safety equipment.

"Alright. Now I'm assuming you have your own tools, there are some relatively new tools that have been left behind on the job site in the job box from Frank, if you need any others you can speak to Olivia about the yearly budget."

"Okay great. What about my hours?"

"7-3, but there are also lots of chances for over time, on the weekends and after your shift."

"Okay great. Well I'll see you later then, Beth has a doctor's appointment." He said and I smiled,

"Have fun." With that he left and I went back into my office, getting my brief case and going to the washroom to change into a button up shirt and a tie. When I got back into my office I heard my phone buzzing and I picked up,

"Hey baby, I just got a call from one of my clients and they want to see one of the houses tonight but right in the middle of DJ's football practice and Josie's dance practice. Are you able to bring them tonight?"

I looked at the clock on my wall, "Yeah that should be fine baby, I'm just about to head to town hall for the permit meeting, you know how those things are."

"Yes, I know…"

"Look I know you had other appointments today… Why don't you call Two-bit and see if he's home? If not… Um… I mean if you're in a pinch you can always drop them off here."

"Well I'll talk to Two-bit first okay?"

"Alright babe. I'll keep you posted on what time I'll be done the meeting."

"Alright baby. Good luck."

Three hours later I walked out rubbing my face. That had taken much longer than it should have, but we got what we came for and that's all that mattered.

"Alright well see you later Jimmy, thanks." I said, shaking my lawyer's hand.

"Not a problem Darry, after the house you built for Carol and I she gets upset when I don't answer your calls directly." We laughed- Jimmy and Carol owned a law firm in Oklahoma City and commuted back and forth every day.

"Well take it easy Jimmy. Thanks again."

"Not a problem." He went to his car and I pulled out my phone, listening to the voicemail from my wife,

"Hi sweetie, I hope everything went well with the city. I just wanted to let you know that Two-bit was home and the kids are with him. I had another client ask to see a house so I'll be home late tonight. Dinner is ready and in the fridge. I love you."

I sent her a text letting her know that we got the permit and that I was on the way to get the kids. Once I was in the truck I called Two-bit,

"Hey man!" He said, sounding like he was out of breath,

"Hey, do you know if Olivia is working late tonight?"

"Yeah, she and a couple guys are staying late to make sure the gas piping gets redone."

"Alright, well in that case, did you want to bring the kids home and join us for supper?"

"Yeah that sounds great man. I'll see you soon."

"See ya." I hung up and drove home, getting dinner out of the fridge. She had made my favourite pasta salad and I had to reheat the chicken breasts so I preheated the oven and grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge.

Twenty minutes later I heard the door chime and Jake got up from where he was laying beside me and he jogged over to greet the guests. DJ came running in and Two-bit came in carrying Josie.

"Hey man, thanks for watching them."

"Yeah of course man. What time are their practices?"

"Well Josie's dance got cancelled, her instructor just emailed everyone, she's sick with the flu. DJ's got football at six, so we've got to start getting ready after dinner." I said, turning to open the oven to check on the chicken. It was warmed through so I took it out and cut some up for Josie, making plates for the kids before putting the rest on the table. Two-bit went to the fridge to get the kids a drink,

"Dar, you mind if I take a coke?"

"No of course not man." He opened it and sat across from me and we started eating,

"How's the business going?" Two-bit asked and I smiled,

"Great, the renovations just finished and it looks fantastic and feels much nicer than a construction office."

"Yeah but it's not exactly just a construction office, it's your head office, considering you have like six different teams working at different locations."

I smiled, "Yeah, it's nice that we have everything in one location, and it's no longer HR working on Main and the legal team on Pickett."

"Yeah I hear you man. Olivia was pretty happy she's got her own office now."

"Oh yeah, while we're on that topic, there are camera's every now, so I don't want to be seeing any nasty things."

He grinned wickedly and I shook my head. DJ and Josie looked between Two-bit and I before they went back to eating. I gathered up the plates when they were done and I brought them over to the sink,

"DJ, go and get changed into your gear and grab your bag. Josie, sweetie do you want to get changed into your Jammie's?" They both nodded and ran upstairs, I started washing the dishes, Two-bit put the left overs on a plate for Charolette and by the time DJ was back downstairs we were ready to go.

We loaded into the truck and we drove down the road to the field that DJ and his team practiced at. DJ was the youngest on his team, he was playing club football and because he was taller than most kids his age the age group above him offered him a spot. I was really hoping he stuck with football, if we could get him a scholarship to pay for school that would be amazing, especially if he gets into a good school and possibly make it into a pro league.

DJ suited up in the car and ran over, I got Josie out and grabbed the chairs form the back, Two-bit grabbed DJ's duffel bag.

Josie did ballet now, we had started her in an introduction to dance class and she chose to stick with ballet, but Charolette and I were thinking of putting her into gymnastics as well. I set up a chair for Josie and one for myself, Two-bit opened one and sat beside me. I put a blanket around Josie, it was starting to get chilly out.

"So how come you're not coaching this?" Two-bit asked and I shrugged,

"I was offered a spot but I asked DJ if he wanted me to take the spot and he said he didn't. I guess it's hard enough being younger and a starter, but to have his dad coaching would just make everything worse."

"Jeez, boys are already that mean at this age?"

"Most of these kids are from families that had their dads play varsity ball or wanted too and they want their kids to get big."

"Ain't that you too?"

"Well I want him to get big in football, but wait until they scrimmage against the older team, you'll see what I'm talking about. These parents have scouts coming to games already, I mean I want DJ to make it to a good college with football but I'm not going to force him into it." He nodded and half way through the practice the older team started making their way over from the field next to theirs. They were only twelve year olds, but there were definitely some big kids on that team.

"Jesus, that kid looks like he ate another one." Two-bit said snickering. I choked on my water and coughed to cover up my laughing.

Half way through the game parents were already yelling at the coaches and throwing things on to the field.

"Jesus," Two-bit muttered, watching as a Mom cussed out the other coach.

"Yeah, I can't imagine what it's like when he gets older, so I'm happy not being one of the coaches."

Someone wrapped their arms around me from behind and I knew the scent from anywhere,

"Hi baby, how did the showing go?" I asked, moving to kiss her.

She kissed me back, "It went well, they're thinking of putting an offer in babe, their agent said that they loved it."

"That's great," I said, kissing her again.

She picked Josie up and sat down, sitting Josie in her lap who eagerly put her tablet down to snuggle into Charolette.

When DJ came off the field to get water I didn't miss the grin when he saw us both sitting here. I knew it upset him that I couldn't make it to every practice, but I only missed about one practice a month and they practiced three or four times a week.

Once the game was over (they didn't keep track of who won, they just played to put game strategies into motion) we packed up and went out for ice cream like we usually did before driving back home. Two-bit said thank you for dinner and ice cream before he left, DJ went to shower and Charolette brought Josie upstairs to get ready for bed and start reading her story.

I was sitting in my office staring blankly at some blue prints. Technically I had the day off tomorrow but I had a feeling that wouldn't be the case.

"Dad?" DJ said, standing in the doorway to my office, just in his pajama pants.

"Yeah kiddo?" I asked, turning off my computer and getting up, following him to the living room.

He swallowed hard and sat on the couch so I sat beside him.

He looked at me before looking down and I could tell he was really struggling.

"Baby what's wrong?" I asked, gently reaching out to take his hands.

"The… T-The guys on t-the team are bullying me.." I swallowed hard, I felt like I had just been punched in the gut.

"Oh Darrel…"

"They're bullying me because I'm gay…"

"Well.. I'm glad that you trust me enough DJ… You mean the world to me and I… I'm so proud of you for coming to me. Did… Did you talk to the coach about what the other kids were saying?" I asked, and his bottom lip started wobbling. I pulled him into my arms and hugged him tightly,

"Okay, okay, we're going to get through this, okay? Your Mom and I are going to support you no matter what, we're going to get through this. Do you want me to talk to your coach?"

He swallowed hard and nodded, and I held his hand tightly,

"Do you want to come with me to talk to your coach or go without you?"

"Could… Could I come?" I nodded and rubbed his back,

"Of course kiddo… And if he acts like a dick we can find you another club or maybe you could try a different sport?"

He nodded, "Only if he's a dick." He said with a small smile,

"Hey," I said, "No swearing."

He laughed and hugged me tightly. I hugged him back just as tight, kissing his head,

"Thank you for coming to me Darrel… This doesn't change anything, or how much I love you."

Charolette came over carrying a cup of hot chocolate and she sat beside me, handing DJ the cup.

"Everything okay?" She asked, kissing DJ's head. He nodded and sipped the hot chocolate resting his head against my shoulder. Charolette gave me a proud smile and I kissed DJ's head.


	16. Chapter 16

Johnny

I woke up one morning just before sunrise. Elena and Ever were hosting a house warming party today and I had a feeling that her old sorority sisters were going to show up. She sent the invitation to most of them (they all pretty much had a plane that they could use any time of the day) and I knew that they were all going to show up. I really was hoping most of them wouldn't show up, back in school some of those girls did their absolute best to keep me away from Elena because I wasn't a frat boy.

However the guys were all coming and Elena's best friend would also be coming. Abby and her husband Aaron live in Houston with their five year old son Aaron Junior. I always liked Aaron and it probably had to do with the fact that he was one of the only guys that welcomed me at all of the various events that the sororities held.

I rubbed my eyes and looked over next to me to see Elena's side of the bed already made. I yawned and sat up, smiling when I saw the door to the balcony open and I could feel a soft breeze coming in. I got up and walked out, sitting beside her on the porch swing. She looked over at me smiling,

"You didn't get dressed after last night?"

"Hell no, after breaking the bed in like we did babe, I was exhausted." She smiled and kissed me softly. I adjusted so that she was leaning against my chest and I wrapped my arms around her, kissing her head,

"How's your coffee?"

"Great, here, you should try it," She said, handing me the cup. I took a sip and shrugged,

"It's pretty good babe, I'm glad you agreed with me to skip the individual use coffee makers." She grinned,

"Yeah yeah yeah. Are you excited about today?" She asked and I knew she could feel me shrug,

"You know how I feel about today. I'm excited to show this place off to our family… I know the guys couldn't wait to see it all finished but I'm just… Not looking forward to seeing most of your sorority sisters and their frat boy husbands that need their wives to wait on them hand and foot." She sighed, she knew that I hated most of the guys that her girlfriends ended up with.

"I know… But all of your brothers will be here and so will Aaron."

"Yeah but Aaron is going to catch up with the guys… You know I'm fine sticking with my friend group but those guys are still going to think that I'm a gold digger."

"Well you're not, and that's all that matters. I know most of those guys are dicks, but I miss my sisters."

I sighed and kissed her head, "What time is this whole thing starting?"

"Eleven, we're having caterers bringing food by… It's a business casual event."

"Did you tell the guys that?" She went wide eyed,

"Shit I forgot."

"It's alright, I'll just let the group chat know and they can let their girls know. Is the pool open too?"

She nodded, "We had the water tested and it's ready to go."

I looked at the time and I sighed, "Well I guess we'd better get ready and get the girl's ready, your parents will be here any minute and then we'd better do some last minute cleaning."

She nodded in agreement and I got up, going into the bathroom and turning on the shower head. I'm so glad that I let Elena talk me into the rain head shower, it was absolutely fantastic. She came in and winked at me and while I showered she started to curl her hair.

I got out of the shower and went into the closet, smiling when I saw that Elena picked an outfit out for me (I know what you're thinking, why is he happy that his wife picked his outfit? Simple, my 'fashion' style was jeans and a teeshirt, so by her picking me out an outfit it saves us both time, as I'd most likely be asking her what went together anyways.).

I got dressed and Elena came out of the washroom and also got dressed wearing a flower skirt and a rather low v-neck black shirt. She looked absolutely stunning and I still can't believe she's my wife. She kissed me before she went to get the girl's dressed and I went downstairs to start breakfast. I saw Ever sitting at the island on her laptop, breakfast waiting for us.

"Wow this looks delicious, thank you." I said, and she smiled,

"You're welcome. I just got a text from Mom and Dad, they said they're just passing through Oklahoma City now."

I nodded and got a mug of coffee, grinning when Easton came running down in a dress. God she was growing up too fast.

"G'mornin Daddy!" She said giggling, wrapping her arms around my neck when I picked her up,

"Good morning princess! How did you sleep?" I asked, kissing her head.

"Gweat! I dweam about da horsies!"

I grinned and sat her in her chair, going to get her some juice,

"You did! What were the horsies doing?" I asked, putting her sippy cup down before sitting across from her.

Elena came down carrying Ella and I grinned,

"You both look so beautiful." I said, grinning and eagerly giving Elena a kiss when she walked by,

"Wow, thank you for breakfast Ever!" She said and I heard the door bell ring.

Elena looked at me curiously and I shrugged, getting up to go to the door. When I opened it Abby was standing there holding Aaron Junior's hand, in a pair of jeans, heels, and a nice beige shirt with some sort of necklace.

"Hey Abby, great to see you!" I said and she grinned, giving me a tight hug.

"Johnny you look great! How's it going? God this place is beautiful. I need to see the video of you surprising her with this place."

"Yeah of course, I've got it on the tablets. Where's Aaron?"

"Oh he's grabbing the gifts from the car." Elena came over upon hearing her best friend's voice and started squealing, hugging her tightly. I saw Aaron walking up carrying a gift bag and one huge present.

"Wow, hey man how's it going?" I asked, taking the gifts from him,

"It's going great. The place looks fantastic, great job man." He grinned and clapped my back,

"Are you guys hungry?" Elena asked and Abby nodded,

"Starving, we left first thing this morning to make it here early. We wanted you guys to open the big present before anyone got here."

I looked at Elena who looked at Abby happily,

"Hun you shouldn't have."

"Nonsense! Open it!" She said excitedly and I nodded at Elena and she opened it, but before I could see what it was her hands were covering her mouth and she looked like she was about to cry,

"O-Oh my gosh Abby… Aaron… Thank you so much." I moved so I could see what it was- a picture of the 'First Look' Elena and I had before the wedding. It was our ultimate favourite picture; I had my arms around her waist and she was holding her bouquet in one hand, the other was resting against my cheek. God I loved that picture, we felt that it captured all of our feelings in the look that we were giving each other.

"Wow… Guys… This is…" I was speechless. We had the perfect spot to put it, on one of the landings on our stairs.

Abby grinned and hugged Elena tightly and Aaron gave me a hug,

"Of course guys! We couldn't not bring you a present!" Abby exclaimed and Elena grinned,

"Yes but this isn't a present… This is… Thank you so much."

"Come on, let's get it up," Aaron said and I nodded, going to the garage to grab the drill and a couple screws, and Elena, Abby, and Ever helped to make sure that it was perfectly centred.

"Wow, that's absolutely beautiful," Ever said, holding Ella. I grinned and nodded in agreement. Elena's parents pulled into the garage, parking the trailer in one spot and pulling out and back into the other side of the garage.

"Wow you two this is gorgeous!" Her dad said, shaking Aaron's hand and giving me a hug,

"Hey Dad, how was your drive?"

"Oh it was lovely. We picked up the new Benz just before we left and thank God we did. It's much more comfortable than the Lexus we had."

I nodded, "That's great. Would you like a tour of your side of the house?" They both nodded and I started walking before I felt Easton take my hand. I grinned and walked with her, Elena's parents following me,

"On a scale of one to ten how much are you looking forward to seeing all those frat boys?" Her Mom asked and I grinned, shrugging,

"Maybe a five or six."

"Oh nonsense Johnny, I can tell by the look on your face. We don't want to see them either, but we can't wait to see your brother's again."

I laughed, "You know me too well Mom. Alright, this is your kitchenette, the half bath here, and if we go up these stairs it is your master bedroom that Ever's already furnished for you, it's right next to the girl's playroom but the wall's pretty thick so hopefully they won't ever bother you too much."

"This is absolutely beautiful Johnny, thank you." Her Dad said, resting his hand on my shoulder.

"No thank you for everything. Ever since I met you both you've been very supportive of Elena and I and you've made it so much easier."

Her Mom smiled, "We've liked you from the start because of how respectable you've always been, and that hasn't changed no matter how long you've lived with us. Even now, most can't wait to have their parents move out, never mind specifically build a house with an area for us."

I smiled, "Well I appreciate it. It made being away from home this long worth it."

We headed back out and her Dad went to the car to grab a couple gift bags to give to the girls to open, every major city they were in on the way down here they stopped and got a stuffed animal for the girls.

A little while later people slowly started showing up, Soda, Pony, and Steve and their families all showed up at once and I knew that they probably mostly carpooled. Tessa came in holding Natalie and Elena grinned,

"Oh she's absolutely beautiful! How's everything going?" She asked, hugging Tessa and kissing her cheek,

"It's going much better than we originally thought." She said, and Steve looked over at me,

"Where did you want the presents man?"

"You guys didn't have too," I said, but the guys shook their heads and I grinned, "Out back. Did you bring your bathing suits?" They all nodded and we brought the presents outside and I started giving the group a tour of our house.

When I got back down I saw that Dallas and Beth were both here, as well as Olivia and Two-bit and Darry and Charolette were just getting in the door. I grinned happily, glad that all of my friends were here first. We all made our way out into the back yard and some of the kids eagerly started to swim.

DJ seemed to stick to Darry's side and we all noticed but we said nothing.

"Alright so Elena is having her old sorority sisters come as well… She's having a catering company cook and serve the food, if you need it we've also got alcohol and room for most of you to stay if you can't drive home."

They all nodded and I heard a couple cars pull up. Elena stuck her head out of the back door,

"Johnny?" I knew she wanted me to be at her side when her friends all came in so I excused my self and kissed her,

"Ready?" I asked and she nodded, and I wrapped my arm around her waist and we went to stand on the porch, I sighed quietly when they all piled out of a limo.

Elena grinned excitedly and the girls practically ran over in a stampede to hug her tightly,

"Hey you guys! I missed you so much!" She said, hugging them all just as tight.

"Oh. My. Gosh. This place is beautiful!" They all squealed, gift bags in hand,

"Thank you so much! Johnny had it built and then surprised me with it!" She said excitedly and most of the girls smiled warmly at me,

"Hi Johnny, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing great. How are you girls doing?" They all nodded and answered before re-introducing me to their husbands and fiancés.

Half of them didn't even remember me, the other half remembered me as a weak and pathetic kid. I shook my head gently before Aaron came out and tried his best to buffer between us.

"Well, come on in. Elena can give you a tour, food and drinks are in the back yard. Thanks for coming." I said, before going back inside. I wanted to support my wife, but there was one thing Elena needed to remember, and that was that I am not a frat boy. I am not immature and childish like those guys, I can take care of my daughters on my own, and I don't need to be babysat. I also know my self worth and I know that these guys think I'm a weak man, but what they don't know is I could be stronger than them. Battling depression and anxiety had never been easy, my whole life nothing had been easy. But I thank God and Elena (and the boys) for helping me through every step of the way, and for the man that I am today.

When I got into the back yard I was happy to see that the kids were still swimming, Presley and Soda were both in the pool, as well as Two-bit and Pony. Steve was sitting beside Tessa as she breast fed and I smiled,

"How's Natalie doing?" Tessa looked up and smiled,

"She's doing really well, she's been eating well and sleeping frequently."

I grabbed a pop from the cooler and I sat down across from them. Easton came over giggling and climbed into my lap,

"Dada? I go swim?"

"Alright sweet pea, let's go and get changed," I said, standing up and bringing her upstairs. I put her in her room,

"You can get changed on your own right?" She nodded and I went into my room and I heard some girls talking,

"I can't believe they could afford to build a place like this. Elena said he paid for it himself."

"I don't know why you hate him so much Carly. He seems to be a really good dad and he treats our sister right. I don't feel right doing this anymore. I'm lucky to have Rick but if I'm not constantly nagging him it's like I have two kids instead of one. Elena said that half the time he's home with the girls and he's teaching them so much."

"The reason I hate him so much is because he went against tradition and so did Elena. You know he acts like he is tough shit because he got Elena and I truly think that he's still a gold digger. You really expect me to believe that he paid for this himself? What does he even do?"

"He's a critical care paramedic, he's the one that's basically a doctor. They make good money. And he doesn't act like tough shit, if you bothered to show up to their wedding every time he looks at her its like he won the lottery. Every single time. If that's not true love then I don't know what is."

I cleared my throat and went into my room to see them all standing there looking at me wide eyed. I went to the drawer with the swimming suits and got my trunks, going to the washroom to change. I brought Easton downstairs and I saw one of the frat boys, Rick, looking at Tessa while she breast fed.

"You know, that inappropriate." He said, and all of my friends' heads whipped around. Steve looked furious,

"Excuse me?" He said abruptly, and Rick shrugged,

"Would it be appropriate if I whipped my dick out?"

"So you mean to tell me that you feed your child semen?" Tessa said and Rick started blushing,

"I-"

"I breast feed my daughter, so she gets the proper nutrients that she needs to grow. My milk is the best thing that she could have to eat. You saying this is inappropriate is not my fault. It's societies fault. I'm doing nothing wrong. If you have a problem you can go somewhere else, or do us all a favour and stop looking at my breast before my husband breaks your neck." He looked away and I couldn't help but grin, the same with all of my friends. Not only for the fact that Rick was put in his place, but for the fact that Tessa stood up for herself.

Easton went to the shed and put on her life jacket, "Dada I ready!" She said giggling, practically bouncing to get into the pool.

"Did you put on some sunscreen?"

She grinned and nodded. I shook my head smiling, "Easton, are you lying to Dada?" She giggled and shook her head before I gave her a stern look and she nodded,

"I lying Dada… No sun scweam."

"What do you say?" I asked, crossing my arms. She looked down,

"I sowwy I lying Dada… No do it gain."

I nodded and kissed her head, "Go and get some sun screen from the shed and Daddy will put some on for you."

She nodded and went over to the shed again and Tessa smiled,

"She's a good girl, she's absolutely adorable." I nodded in agreement,

"I never thought I'd be this lucky." Steve grinned and wrapped his arm around Tessa,

"I hear you man." Just as he went to give Tessa a kiss Julian ran over soaking wet and he jumped onto Steve's lap, giving him a big hug,

"I love you Daddy!"

Steve grinned and picked Julian up, cleaning out his pants pockets before pulling his shirt off and jumping in. Julian squealed and giggled loudly when he surface and Steve started to pretend to eat his side.

I looked around and saw the rest of the guys either with with their other halves or their kids and it made me so happy to see how happy they all are.

Elena came out and I knew she was pissed, but I couldn't tell why. I kissed her softly, resting my hands on her hips,

"What's wrong baby?"

"I'm just so pissed… I heard what Carly was saying and… God I've never been so mad at someone before." She said, and I could tell she was practically fuming.

"Babe, hey, listen to me. What she said doesn't matter. Okay? There's a reason her longest relationship only lasted a week."

"Johnny I just… I hate when people think you're some low life gold digger. That isn't the case at all and I can't stand it when people assume that."

"Babe that doesn't matter. Don't let me get in the way of your friendship, okay?"

"Honestly Johnny… I don't know if I want to be friends with her anymore. She's just… She's so incredibly negative."

"Hey, before you make any irrational decisions why don't you just take some time to cool off? Easton wants to go for a swim, why don't you come in for a swim with East and I?" I looked over at the pool to see Ella really content in Beth's arms as she talked with Audrey.

Elena sighed and nodded, leaning up to kiss me. I smiled and gently wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her against me as I kissed her.

"I love you Johnny… You are my everything."

"And you are mine," I whispered. She kissed me again before going into the pool shed to change. Elena came over carrying Easton who was giggling loudly and I grinned,

"Oh my girls are so beautiful." I said, throwing Easton in the pool. She surfaced, squealing loudly,

"Daddy! You's frew me in!"

I grinned and jumped in, Elena slid in and Ella giggled, waving at us.

"Hey sweet pea! Are you having fun with Aunti Beth?" Elena asked and Ella nodded, squealing. She doesn't really like to talk yet, but we're hoping that she starts soon. Apparently Darry told me that his Mom said I didn't start talking until I was three. Yeah, I've known them my whole life.

"Daddy will you catch me?" Easton asked, and I knew that this was her way of wanting to jump into the pool. I nodded and lifted her out of the pool, swimming to the deep end to wait for her to jump in. She giggled and backed up, running and jumping into the pool. I grinned and kept treading water for almost twenty minutes- with a life jacket on she really didn't need my help.

About ten minutes before Easton stopped jumping in most of the sorority girls had made it outside and were helping themselves to the wine. I'd made it clear to Elena the only ones that I wanted to stay the night were my brothers or Abby and her family.

I got out of the pool and grabbed a towel, going into the house to grab a hair tie for Easton's hair. Carly was in the washroom upstairs that the girls used and I nodded at her, going towards the drawer,

"Do you not remember what happened between us Johnny?" She asked, turning so she wa almost directly in my face. I took a step back and shook my head,

"Carly I don't remember anything to do with you."

"You told me that you weren't ready for a relationship and said you'd call me… I waited for days before I found out that you moved on to Elena. After what I did for you… You know… Sucking you off and everything… I thought that maybe things would have been different."

"Carly what the hell are you talking about? I never talked to you previously than the sorority events."

She huffed and crossed her arms, "The brunette with the big nose and braces?" I felt absolutely terrible so I nodded,

"Right, yeah."

"I had a lot of work done… But who are you to turn me down! You're some filthy greaser and a gold digger- which is why you chose Elena over me! She's always had everything she wanted put into the palm of her hand for her!" I started feeling uncomfortable and I reached down to grab a hair tie before I felt lips on my own.

I shoved her off as fast as I could, staring at her in disbelief. She gave me a wicked smile and I noticed a fake looking bruise on her neck. She then quickly got up and went running outside.

I heard numerous gasps and I knew right away she was trying to sell a bogus story.

"A-and then h-he kissed me a-and shoved me! E-Elena w-what kind of monster d-did you marry?!" She asked, sobbing hard. I went wide eyed and Elena looked over at me. I hoped that my wife could see through Carly's lies, I knew that my friends would at least believe me.

However I felt my heart start beating hard when it seemed like Elena was considering who was actually telling the truth.

"Lena… You have to believe me… She's a liar. The bruise on her neck is probably make up- She kissed me!"

"E-Elena you need to get you and your g-girls out of this situation," Carly sobbed. Elena hugged her tightly, holding her gently before pulling away and wiping her tears.

"Sweetheart… I wish you didn't embarrass yourself like this. I know my husband… And I know that he'd never hurt a fly." She reached forward to cup her face before wiping off the fake bruise.

"I want you off of my property, and I don't ever want to hear from you again. Not after this stunt you pulled, ruining my house warming party, trying to ruin my marriage and my children's image of their father." Carly grit her teeth,

"I never liked any of you girls. You're too mean for your own good! You've had everything handed to you your entire life!" She screamed before walking out. Aaron looked at me,

"Damn. Crazy bitch." I grinned and shook my head, kissing Elena.

"Thank god babe…"

"You really thought I'd believe her? Johnny what the hell?"

"I just…"

"Why did you put yourself in that situation?"

"Easton wanted a hair tie and Carly was in the washroom, I figured I would just grab the hair tie and leave." I said, putting Easton's hair into a bun for her. Elena sighed and kissed me, whispering,

"You didn't kiss her back did you?"

I shook my head, "Hell no baby. She's not you and you're the only woman I've ever wanted."

She hugged me and we started opening the gifts from everyone.

The boys had all gotten us a pool table, their girls had mostly boughten bed sheets and decorative pillows and such.

The second gift that Abby and Aaron got us was two personalized sets of coasters, one of Elena and I when we toured Europe back in college with Abby and Aaron, and the second set was their favourite pictures of Elena, the kids, and I.

A few of her sorority sisters got us things such as expensive vases, a couple expensive throw blankets, and a rug.

"Wow, thank you guys so much!" Elena said and we went around hugging everyone in thanks.


	17. Chapter 17

Two-bit

"Do you think we're ready for this?" Olivia asked me nervously as we drove down the interstate. I swallowed hard and shrugged,

"I don't know Ollie… But we have to try. We owe that to ourselves." She nodded in agreement and took my hand tightly. We had barely gotten in the door from Johnny and Elena's house warming party when we got a call from the agency in which we had our interview and they had asked us to come to Kansas City to meet them.

Just as we pulled up at a tiny, one bedroom house it was almost one in the morning. It was an extremely rough looking neighbourhood and I couldn't help but feel an odd sense of comfort. I knew Olivia felt the same way but I still didn't know what was in store for us.

I took her hand and locked the car, going up to the door. Just as I went to knock the door opened and we were greeted by Kimberly.

"Hello you two. Have you had time to think about what I told you?"

"We have… We've talked about all aspects of it and… We want to take all three siblings."

"You both realize that it is a big responsibility, correct?"

We nodded, "We may only have three bedrooms, but for now the boys could share a room and Raven can have her own room. Once the boys get bigger we're thinking about converting the basement so it'll have another bedroom."

She smiled, "That is wonderful to hear. I'll let you read over the file, and once you've signed the forms to foster them we'll bring them in and pack their things to go home with you."

We both nodded and we sat down in the living room. She handed us each a form explaining what had happened: their father was killed in an explosion at work, and their mother had always been addicted to drugs and it had gotten worse once her husband died. The children were taken away and put into this foster home but they weren't planning to adopt them- we were. We wanted to foster them until we were allowed to adopt. Their mother signed over her parental rights and hasn't asked about them since.

Xavier was the oldest at ten, Clayton is the middle child at five, and Raven is only three months old. It was scary how quickly these kids' lives went to shit.

I looked at Olivia and I could tell just by the look in her eyes that she was sure she wanted to do this. I nodded at Kimberly,

"We're sure Kimberly… We want to adopt these little ones. We'll love them as our own… God we're going to spoil them rotten." I said, I just wanted to hug these kids and protect them from any harm that tried to come their way. She handed us the forms and we both signed them before a younger woman came out carrying a baby carrier in one hand, holding Clayton's hand and Xavier was walking in front of them. I knew that stance, the stance that he'd protect his little siblings no matter the cost.

"Xavier, Clayton, this is Keith and Olivia… And they want to adopt you. They live in Oklahoma and they want to bring you home and spoil you." Xavier gave us a wary look and I grinned,

"Shoot, I forgot something in the car. I'll be right back." I went to the truck and came back in carrying two gift bags. Kimberly told us that Xavier had always wanted to play hockey but his foster Mom wouldn't let him, and Clayton loved drawing but didn't have the right tools. Olivia and I stopped on our way here and we got Xavier a pair of ice skates and we got Clayton some paint and canvases.

The boys started grinning eagerly when they saw the presents and started opening them. Olivia also insisted we get them each a teddy bear, and I'd never seen two kids so happy over such a minuscule gift. Xavier gave me a tight hug and I grinned,

"I hope you know how to skate kiddo because I sure don't." He giggled and I kissed his head,

"I know it'll be hard to trust your siblings with us… But we want to give you, Clayton, and Raven everything you've ever wanted. We want to spoil you three until you're sick of it."

He nodded and hugged Olivia and she grinned, I knew she was teary eyed.

Clayton giggled, holding his bear tightly,

"Thank you!" I grinned and hugged him,

"You're very welcome buddy." Xavier stayed against Olivia's side and the lady smiled, passing Raven to Olivia. Olivia sniffled and used one hand to wipe her eyes,

"She's beautiful… Oh you are all perfect." She said, sitting on the couch.

I sat on the couch opposite with her with Clayton, "You and Xavier will share a room for a little while okay? But that's just until you're older and we build another room."

He nodded and moved into my lap. I felt terrible knowing that these kids were desperate to be loved- but I'd do my absolute best to make sure they had nothing but love, maybe too much. I saw an elderly woman come in and give us a watery smile,

"Thank you for taking them… I can tell how much they already love you and how much you love them… And that's all I wanted for them."

I smiled and stood up, holding Clayton, "Thank you… Thank you for allowing us to adopt them." She nodded and I sat down, tickling Clayton's side. He giggled and Kimberly smiled at us,

"Okay, Keith, Olivia, would you mind following Jamie into the kitchen so I can speak with Xavier and Clayton alone?" We both nodded and went into the kitchen. About twenty minutes later Kimberly called us back in and we sat on the couch opposite of the two boys and Kimberly sat on a chair next to the couches.

"Okay. There are some concerns… Based on previous foster placements. Should the boys need to contact me without your knowledge, how could they do that?"

"Well, we have a home phone, so we can set your number and emergency numbers as speed dial numbers to make it easy for them." Olivia said, gently bouncing Raven.

"Okay perfect." Kimberly said, "Now how do you both feel about pets, such as cats, hamsters, rabbits, dogs?"

"We're open to all of them, as long as we're all responsible with the animals and they get the proper care that they need." Olivia said, but I knew this would mean she would have to take allergy pills.

She nodded again and glanced at the boys. They seemed happy, but again I felt terrible that they felt the need to make sure they could reach Kimberly.

"Will you be putting the children into the sports or activities?"

Olivia nodded, "As long as we can afford it and they want to we will."

"How often will the boys be with a babysitter?"

"For the first year or so.. I want to say hardly ever. I will take my maternity leave and Keith can take some time off work to make sure that the boys grow comfortable around us and trust us."

"And for schooling?"

"Well… we'd prefer to have both kids put into classes as soon as possible so they don't fall behind. Home schooling is an option but… We'd prefer the kids go to school and have some time away from home and make friends and learn in a different environment."

"Can I play hockey?" Xavier asked shyly and I nodded,

"Yeah you can play hockey kiddo… Kimberly said you already know how to skate so… We want you to play hockey and Clayton, if you're interested Olivia and I would like to put you into drawing lessons." His eyes lit up and he nodded eagerly.

Kimberly smiled and looked at the boys, "Do you have something you'd like to say to Keith and Olivia?"

Xavier grinned and Clayton started to squirm nervously,

"We…We want to come home with you." Xavier said shyly and I grinned, getting tears in my own eyes. I grinned and wiped my eyes and Xavier looked at me nervously.

"Thank you buddy… Thank you for trusting me and Olivia enough to come home with us."

"I want you to be my dad." I grinned and sniffled, opening my arms. Both Clayton and Xavier came over and hugged me tightly. We went upstairs and packed what little they had before installing their car seats into our car. They each hugged their foster mother before hugging Kimberly and we grinned at Kimberly,

"Thank you so much."

"Of course you two. I'll be in touch with the both of you soon." We brought the kids out to the car and started the long drive home. We got home around five in the morning and put the kids to bed in the spare room. If they were up to it we would bring them shopping for furniture and toys today and get the nursery a little more prepared.

Olivia was out like a light when we got into bed, but I slept most of the way home as well as the kids so I felt wide awake. About three hours later Raven started crying so I went into the nursery and picked her up, gently rocking her. I kissed her forehead, god she was absolutely perfect. All three of them were, and I couldn't believe that their mother would just give them up like that. God there were families out there, people out there that would treat their kids right, raise them to be amazing human beings and couldn't have kids… And there were families like these where they were not only blessed to have one kid, but three.

In a way I was thankful that their mother sucked- because they were now my children and no one was going to convince me otherwise. These three already had me wrapped around their finger and I would die for them- and I'd only known them maybe six hours.

I brought Raven downstairs and started preparing her formula. No one in the family knew what had happened, so we decided that if the kids were ready we would have the family over and introduce them. We all knew there was a good chance they'd bring gifts for the kids and I couldn't wait for everyone to meet.

I started feeding Raven, I hoped that the kids would still be sleeping because they seemed absolutely exhausted.

She eagerly ate from her bottle and I kissed her head softly, whispering,

"I can't believe I'm finally a dad… I promise that I will do my very best to protect you… I won't let anything or anyone hurt you or so help me God they'll be dead… Thank you for letting me become your dad. I will do anything for you and your brothers." I saw something move out of the corner of my eye and I looked up to see Olivia standing here with her phone out- recording me. I smiled, seeing Xavier and Clayton on either side of her. I grinned,

"Ain't you two supposed to be sleeping?" Xavier grinned,

"We're too excited to go shopping!" I laughed and nodded,

"Okay, let me finish feeding your sister and then I'll make some breakfast and we'll go shopping for you!" They giggled happily and Olivia got them both some juice and she kissed me before starting to make breakfast.

I burped Raven and adjusted her so she could sleep against me and I moved my chair so I was sitting at the table with the kids.

"How did you boys sleep?" I asked and they both grinned,

"The very best!" Clayton said giggling. Olivia grinned and gave them each a plate of pancakes, putting a plate down in front of me and her spot.

She sat beside me and sipped her coffee, "So… Tonight we usually have a family dinner, with my sister and… Keith's brothers and their children… Would you be interested in meeting everyone?"

I watched at Xavier and Clayton looked at each other and seemed to silently communicate, the same way Johnny and Ponyboy used to when they were younger.

"Okay, that sounds like fun," Xavier said with a grin. I grinned and we ate, and once we were done we all got dressed to go. When we got outside Olivia grinned,

"Why don't you three take Raven and sit by the tree, and I'll get a picture of you!" The boys looked up at me eagerly and I grinned,

"Alright, hand me the little princess and I'll have a seat with these handsome young men." They giggled and went over and sat down, and I sat between them. I think we got one mature photo before they started carefully climbing on me and tickling me. I took some of Olivia with the kids before our next door neighbours came over and took some pictures of the five of us as a family.

It was the picture of me holding Raven and Clayton on my knee, Xavier standing behind me hugging me and resting his head on mine that I sent to the group chat,

 _Looks like I'm a dad! You guys available to come by tonight and meet my children?_

My phone practically blew up, and I was beyond happy when I saw how happy they all were for me. We got to the furniture store first, we let the boys pick out their mattresses but we picked most of the furniture- we still had a rather tight budget to stick too. We decided the best way to go to save space for now was bunk beds, and thankfully both Xavier and Clayton liked superheroes so we stuck with that theme. I kept getting questions of what the kids liked and what size of clothes they wear and I sent the information, thankful they were getting presents to help out.

We bought new furniture for the boys and a rocking chair to put into Raven's room before heading to the mall with the kids. We bought them all new clothes and toys; stuffed animals, action figures, barbies, cars, and remote controlled toys. We also picked up a new tablet while we were at the mall so Clayton and Xavier could play one at the same time. By the time we were finished at the mall the kids were starving so we went straight home and I made burgers and french fries for lunch. The doorbell rang and I went to open the door, and family by family my brothers all showed up.

It warmed my heart how open and welcoming they were to the kids. Once all of my friends were here we were sitting around the back yard- Olivia was holding Raven and Clayton was tucked into my side and the twins, DJ, and Xavier were all playing football.

"Do you want to open your presents?" I asked Clayton and he looked up at me grinning. I chuckled,

"Xavier, can you come over here kiddo?" He came over along with his new cousins and he sat on my other side between Olivia and I.

"Alright kiddos, this is from your Uncle Darry and Aunt Charolette." I said, handing them each a bag. They opened it and grinned when they saw some more action figures and warm clothes that were super hero themed.

"Thank you!" They both said on their own, going over and hugging them tightly.

Gift after gift the boys would run over and hug the giver tightly and thank them. I could tell they had never been this privileged ever, they seemed like kids on Christmas morning. Then for the last gift Johnny went to get boxes from the car and came over carrying two large boxes.

Johnny and Elena had gotten Clayton a easel, a top of the line one that I had briefly looked at on line this morning. Along with it came a gift card to an art store and some top quality paints. He was so excited he was practically bouncing up and down.

Then when Xavier opened his gift he started crying. They had bought him all of the necessary hockey equipment such as padding and helmets (they gave us the gift receipt incase it didn't fit) as well as a gift card for him to pick a stick.

They hugged Johnny and Elena a little longer than everyone else and Elena kissed Xavier's head,

"Don't cry baby… Your parents told us that you were dying to play hockey so… Now you can." After the gifts were done the kids went to play and I went to start grilling. When I came back out I went over to Johnny and Elena with Olivia,

"Guys… We can't thank you enough for the hockey gear."

"Of course, Ever used to play hockey and I know how pricey it can be, not to mention while he's growing." Elena said and we hugged them tightly. I heard Xavier start talking and I turned to see him talking to Steve about Steve's car, and he started talking performance of things I didn't even know about. Steve grinned and looked absolutely over joyed that his soon to be nephew knew cars.

Just as lunch was finishing Olivia's parents walked into the back yard and I could tell that it made Tessa and Steve uneasy so most of us figured we'd run interference.

While all of the kids went to play soccer her parents sat with us.

"I don't know why you'd do this to them, Olivia." Her mother said after we all made small talk for a little while.

"What are you talking about? We're giving them the life that they deserve. They lost their father and their mother is addicted to drugs."

"Not that. I don't know why you'd bring a family of black children to a place like this. They don't belong here or with you. Couldn't you find a nice white baby?"

I felt my blood boil and I felt livid. Before I could open my mouth Olivia went red,

"Get the fuck out of my house. Don't you ever fucking talk about my children like that, ever again. They mean the absolute world to Two-bit and I and if you don't fucking respect that I don't care if you never come back into my life. If you want to be a racist prick then don't ever, I mean _ever_ , come back here. These little boys and Raven are my entire world. They are my children and I will love them regardless of what your closed minded head fucking thinks. Get out."

Everyone seemed shocked and even the kids had stopped playing, looking over curiously. Even her parents seemed extremely shocked and she cleared her throat,

"I'm not joking. I won't let you treat my family like this. Get off of my property unless you are going to respect us." They looked at each other briefly before nodding,

"We are very sorry…" They looked at Steve and Tessa before their mother cleared her throat,

"I've been seeing a therapist… To try and help me. I know I've been extremely hard on you girls and for that I am really sorry. Tessa… I'm sorry for the way I've treated you and the comments I've made on your weight. You are beautiful and one of the best things that's ever happened to me. Olivia… I'm sorry for my hurtful words towards your family. Your children are beautiful… And they're lucky you found them and love them. You girls are the best thing that's ever happened to me and I'm sorry I've ruined our relationship." Their Mom said. I think all of us were in awe. Then Tessa sniffled and got up, going to give her Mom a hug. Olivia followed in suit and I looked at Steve. I knew Steve hadn't forgiven them still, and knowing Steve he probably never would.

I smiled anyways, I was glad that the kids saw this conflict resolved. I knew (from being Tessa's brother in law) that she really struggled with her weight and just as she started losing some of her weight she had gotten pregnant and gained fifty pounds. Steve loved her anyways, but having a mother like theirs never made it easy on Tess.

Later that night once everyone had gone home the kids were excited that they had a whole new room and set up, I know it made them feel more at home. Olivia and I surprised them and put a television in there for them so they could watch a movie before bed. They eagerly went to bed and Olivia put Raven to bed and she came into our room,

"I can't believe we got this lucky Two-bit… I can't believe it," She said, changing into her pajama's. I grinned from my spot on the bed and shrugged,

"I can't believe it either.. I can't believe we got this lucky."


	18. Chapter 18

Sodapop

"That looks great Timmy, bring her in tighter for the next corner!" I called, sitting on the fence in the outdoor paddock. Timmy was a local kid on his way to entering the Western Ring. He was going to be big and I knew it for sure, he was already breaking records that had been set.

After another half an hour he went to groom his horse and I climbed off the fence and went to the truck to make my way back to the house. Tomorrow Pony and Audrey were going to be heading home early, but Pony promised that he'd keep in touch better than he used too. I know it was hard on Pony not living around all of us but he was still close enough that he could come for the weekend and not break the bank having to fly.

I went into the barn and to the office, taking a seat behind the desk. I opened up my laptop and checked the email account for the Western barn, answering any of the emails that needed a response before ordering more supplies. I printed out the receipt list and went out to the tack room, posting the receipt list on the board. I knew that the chances were high that I wouldn't be here when the delivery came so I needed one of my stable hands to check what we received. I went back into the office to pack my laptop up and when I came out I saw two of the stable hands talking, one commuted to the barn and the other lived in the house behind the barn.

"Hey Henry, Peter, how's everything going?" I asked and Peter shrugged,

"It's going man, the tractor is back firing again. Are you able to take a look at it?" I nodded,

"Yeah that's no problem. How are the horses doing?"

"Good, Drummer started pacing in his stall again but we gave him some of the herbs that your mother suggested and it worked."

I nodded, "Okay great. There should be a delivery later this week with feed and this weekend we're having new concrete poured and asphalt being laid for the driveway. So I'd like the horses in the paddock's for the weekend, the weather is supposed to be good so now is the best time to do it."

They nodded and went back to working. Timmy brought his horse in and started grooming him down before I went back into the office to grab my tool box, going into the garage. I started working on the tractor, tuning it up before adjusting the firing order. Clearly someone had been tinkering with the wires. I did my other weekly maintenance with the rest of the equipment before I put my backpack on my back and climbed onto the ATV.

I drove across our property to the English barn and saw that our secondary coach was in the ring with Presley's dad. He was the main coach, and the secondary coach was a girl named Annabelle, or Anna for short, and she had sent many students to the Grand Prix, but she was part of the team that helped Presley make it to the Olympics.

"Hey Anna, hey Dad," I said, hoping off the ATV. They both nodded, in the middle of a lesson. I went into the barn and started checking stock. I knew that Anna was the barn manager and she took care of most of this but she had a lot on her plate with Presley taking the time off.

I smiled and ordered the stock that we needed, again putting the list on the bulletin board.

"Hi Sodapop," Nicole said, mucking out one of the stalls. She was one of our oldest students, she was in grade twelve and she had gotten a scholarship at Auburn University on their Division 1 NCAA team and we couldn't be prouder of her.

"Hey Nicole, how's school going?"

"Good, I just got my midterm marks and I'm still keeping up my end of the bargain, my mom is dreading the day that I leave for school though."

"I think parents dread that day since the day you're born. I can't even imagine the day that my boys decide to leave."

"Have they shown any long term interests yet?"

I shook my head, "No not yet, still just the animals and the crop side of the business but nothing that is long term." She nodded and I walked away, going out to the arena.

"Sodapop," Dad said, walking over while Anna continued with the lesson,

"Hey Dad, I ordered the feed and supplies we needed for this week, I've put the list on the bulletin for one of the girls to check when it gets delivered, same with the Western barn. We've got the construction at the Western barn this weekend, and here at the English barn I've got the guys coming over to help us bail hay and move it into the loft."

He nodded, "Sounds like you've got it all under control. We've got the lessons for the rest of the day, what are you up to for the day?"

"Well the weather is nice, Ponyboy is leaving first thing tomorrow morning so we're going to go over to Johnny's house just for some reminiscing before he goes home."

Dad nodded, "Alright kiddo, drive safe. What time will you be back?"

"I'm hoping not too late, we're bringing the kids and Tessa's bringing Natalie so we don't want to be getting home late."

"Well enjoy, I'll take care of the rest here."

"Thanks dad. I'll see you later tonight." He nodded and clapped my shoulder before I hopped back on to the ATV, driving back to the house.

When I got back to the house Tessa was sitting on the front porch with Presley, she was feeding Natalie and I grinned,

"Hello ladies, wonderful weather we're having." I said grinning. Our old hound dog, Hank, was laying by Presley's feet, who gave a welcoming howl when I started talking. Our pup and new farm dog, Fluff (he was an Olde Sheep Dog so he was entirely fluff), started wagging her tail eagerly when I walked onto to the porch. I bent down and kissed her head and she gave me a face full of kisses. I smiled and gently pushed her head away,

"Enough Fluffo, I don't need to drown in your kisses." Tessa smiled, burping Natalie.

"Hey, Steve on baby duty last night?" I asked, and she nodded,

"He said he was going to take night duty for the first little while to help me out."

"That sounds great. I was thinking once Pony and Audrey get back we head out? I know that they're heading out early and I can imagine that you and Steve will want to rest as much as you can."

She nodded and Presley nodded, "Alright, let me go and get ready. Can you get the boys ready?"

I nodded, "Yep, I just need a shower first okay?" She nodded and leaned up to kiss me, and I went inside to start the shower. When I came out I saw the boys were playing in their room and Presley's Mom was watching them,

"Hey Mom, how was their lesson today?"

"It went well, I thought I'd get the boys ready for you."

"Thank you Mom, I really really appreciate all that you do for Presley and I."

"You're very welcome sweetheart. I know it isn't easy doing all of this and running your own business and one for your wife. Enjoy yourselves tonight okay?"

I nodded and kissed her head, "Thank you Mom. I appreciate it. Boys, let's go." They picked up their toys and went downstairs to the car. Just as I was getting downstairs Steve was walking up out of the basement, rubbing his eyes.

"Hey man, how's it going?"

"Meh, I definitely forgot what it feels like to be sleep deprived, Julian sleeps like a rock so well that I haven't lost any sleep over the last two years."

"Damn man, that's about the only thing I'm not looking forward to when the baby is born."

"It's alright, I mean I know it's only for a short amount of time but having to work and then having to stay up all night with Natalie isn't exactly my dream."

"Well… I mean…"

"Shit that came out really wrong. I mean… Fuck I don't know man. Tessa, the kids, they're my dream I guess… I mean when I was younger all I wanted was the best auto shop in Tulsa… And I have that. But when I had the shop that was on it's way to becoming bigger… I'd never felt more alone. Evie was screwing around on me and… I mean… I'd hooked up with Tessa… But… It wasn't until I actually signed the divorce papers and… Went to watch her volleyball game… I'd never felt that way with anyone. Tessa wasn't the type of girl that I thought that I'd end up with, but when guys used to make comments on Evie I was never protective or angry. But when those guys were making comments at Tessa I'd never been so angry. You know in high school when we slept with her… I felt the same way- protective over her.

"But when I brought her back to my house that night and we talked, I realize now that her dream has become my dream. Is that supposed to happen?"

I grinned and nodded, "That's how it works when you fall in love man. You really think it's Dallas's dream to buy a house and raise a family? Hell no, but when you fall in love your dreams coincide with each other."

"Well I guess I'm on the right track. I just… I'd never felt so protective over a woman. Guys would say shit about Evie all the time and I would just nod and agree, you know 'look at her ass'. But when I met Tessa and went to watch her game and guys I was sitting around they kept talking shit about her and I lost it on them. I knew she could hear their comments and I knew from Olivia and Two-bit that their mother was hard on her… I couldn't help but stick up for her."

"It was the same with Presley and I man. I mean a lot of people tend to judge her with her red hair, but you're right. When I was with Sandy I was kind of braggy about how she looked, don't get me wrong I do the same with Presley sometimes, but for most of the time I don't like it when guys are like, 'Hey bud your wife has a nice rack'. I know that, thank you, but I don't need to hear that you're checking out my wife."

Steve grinned and nodded in agreement. We went back out to the porch where the girls were waiting with the kids.

"Has anyone heard from Ponyboy or Audrey?"

Presley nodded, "They're on their way back from shopping so they're just going to meet us there."

"Alright, well did you guys want to follow us?" I asked looking at Steve. He nodded,

"Yeah man that sounds good." We got into our respective cars before going to Johnny and Elena's place. When we got there everyone was already there.

"Hey, sorry we're late," We said, hugging Elena and Johnny as we came in the front door.

"Oh don't worry, you're just in time! I was just about to start the barbecue." Johnny said, and the twins and Julian ran off to change to play in the pool while the rest of the adults (including myself) went to the backyard. As many of the girls weren't around when we were growing up we thought it would be fun to reminisce.

"Hey y'all," Darry called and raised his beer. I smiled and nodded at him and grabbed a beer from the bar fridge. I tossed a can at Steve and he nodded in thanks, cracking it open. Presley sat bedside me and rubbed her bump. I smiled, moving over to put my hand on top of hers. She grinned and leaned over to kiss me and I happily kissed her back.

I pulled away and gently stroked her cheek, "I love you."

She grinned and kissed me again, "I love you too Sodapop."

We all sat quietly in the sun, quietly sitting with each other for one last time for a little while. It was weird having us all together, watching all of our kids play with each other. Although this time they weren't playing cops and robbers (or greasers and socs that we used to call it), they were either swimming playing marco polo or some sort of water ball, or in the case of the younger ones that couldn't swim, they were just babbling to each other. Natalie was curled into Tessa and Steve was rubbing Natalie's back softly, Dally was looking at Beth as she talked to him about something.

"So have you two decided on a name?" Darry asked, and both Sawyer and I looked over as well as Beth and Dallas. Darry grinned when he realized he didn't specify,

"Both of you." He clarified and Beth smiled,

"Well… We're thinking either Jack or Ethan."

Presley smiled, "Those are cute! We picked out the name for our boy…"

"Oh god I hope it's not another weird one." Pony groaned playfully and I shrugged,

"That's too bad. We're going to be naming him Pepsi. Pepsi Alan Curtis. Alan after her dad." I said, rubbing Presley's bump.

"That's adorable guys," Tessa said, and I smiled.

We started reminiscing, and then I realized there was a lot that we didn't know about Johnny, Dallas, and even Ponyboy while they were gone.

"Johnny, tell me one thing that we don't know about you while you were Maine." Johnny blushed and shrugged,

"Well… The only one that knows this is Elena but… I was in a band. A cover band with my room mate and two other guys from our school."

"A band? What kind of band?" Two-bit questioned, gently bouncing Raven.

"It was a cover band, we did a lot of country and some alternative, anything with a good vibe and was easy to get a crowd happy in a bar. It made us decent money on the side."

The guys all nodded. Pony looked over at him, "So did you like play an instrument or?"

"I played drums briefly but I was better at singing that I was playing any instruments."

"Shit kid I didn't know you could sing." Steve said and he shrugged,

"I didn't exactly know I could either."

"Do you have any video's on line?"

"Oh yeah tons… That's how Elena and I first saw each other. We usually played at a local dive bar every Saturday night."

"What was the bands name?" Pony said, already searching on his tablet,

"Southern Fate, we were all from the south." Pony grinned and pulled up a video and started showing it to us.

"Jesus kid I had no idea you were this good!" Two-bit exclaimed, clapping his back. He blushed and shrugged,

"I wasn't that good."

We finished watching the video before we looked at Ponyboy, "Alright, what's one thing that we don't know about you?"

Pony shrugged, "The biggest secret I've kept… Two of you already know. You guys remember back in the day when Soda and Steve were into drag racing and they hired a driver and started winning?" Everyone nodded and I watched as Darry's eyes started to narrow, "Well that driver was me."

"You?! Ponyboy you weren't old enough to have your license!"

"Darry chill out! Soda and Steve let me keep eighty percent of the money and that all went towards school!"

"That was stupid and dangerous!" He turned to Steve and I, "And you two! Why the hell would you let him!"

"He begged us to let him do it! Darry you came out and saw those races! He was never in any real danger that's how far ahead he was!" I argued and Darry rolled his eyes,

"We're talking about this later." Pony sighed and seemed to sink in his seat. I knew that this wasn't going to end very well.

"When I was in New York… I found some work as a stripper." Dally said and Beth grinned.

"A stripper? Really?" I asked, and he grinned and shrugged,

"Hell yes, I made more money than I do now when I was."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, and Beth loves it, turns her on every time." He said and Beth bit her lip grinning.

"Well shit, I didn't expect to hear any of this leaving your mouths." I said grinning. The boys shrugged,

"I'm sure all of you have secrets that we don't know about and you all lived here." Johnny said and Steve shrugged, "You're probably right."

"Do you remember the Christmas after the fire? That Johnny literally got out of his wheelchair and started walking around to surprise all of us? Ponyboy almost passed out." I said grinning. Johnny chuckled,

"I'd been walking for almost a month… And I was going to tell you guys but I decided I should just wait the month and surprise you guys for Christmas."

"You sure as well surprised us alright," Pony grumbled and I laughed.

"Or what about the fourth of July weekend that Two-bit got so drunk he was sober?" Steve said and Two-bit rolled his eyes,

"What about the thanksgiving weekend you ate so much you gave yourself food poisoning?"

"I remember the memorial day weekend we all went to the lake and Sodapop stumbled upon a nudist group." Darry said grinning. I grinned,

"Yeah that was terrifying." We all kept reminiscing and before I knew it, it started to get late and I saw the kids that were still awake trying not to yawn. We all had dinner before saying good bye, Ponyboy was going to meet us back at my house, I knew that Darry and Johnny were going to spend a little longer saying good bye since they didn't get a lot of time to hang out and catch up.

When I went back out to the car I buckled the kids into the car before Presley took the keys.

"Thank you for driving babe," I said, kissing her softly. God her lips were like heaven to me.

"Of course hun." I opened the door for her before going around and getting in the other side. She started driving and I felt fine, I only had one beer anyways but driving this high way at night always stressed me out. When we got home I carried each of the boys to their room and Presley helped me change them before I went into our room and started a fire in the fireplace. She came over and sat beside me on the love seat and I wrapped my arms around her, kissing her head.

"Soda? Can we talk about your… Your threesome with Steve and Tessa?"

"Sure babe, what do you want to know?" I asked, gently rubbing her arm,

"Do… Do you ever think about it?"

I shook my head, "Not really… I mean I was a teenager when it happened and at the time I thought it was the best thing that happened to me- I mean you know once Sandy left I wasn't in the right mind set… But once I matured I just… Haven't really thought about it. There hasn't been a need, especially with you and I being honest with each other."

She nodded happily and I moved my hand so I was rubbing her bump,

"Are you feeling okay?" I asked her, knowing that she tended to hold information back from me.

"I'm okay… I'm a little bored usually but I've been helping Mom teach the boys and that's been helping me. How are you feeling?"

"Presley don't do this… There's more going on and I know it. You don't need to be afraid to tell me what's going on." She glanced up at me before she sighed,

"I'm… I'm scared Sodapop… Things are going too well… Everything is perfect and you know as well as I do that we don't… We don't have good luck when it comes to children."

I rubbed her back. She was right, two out of five babies survived and those odds always made me uncomfortable. "I know sweetie… But we have to stay positive. Our luck might be turning around Pres… And if it is… We're going to be happy for the rest of our lives. We deserve it, we've been through too much."

She nodded and rested her head on my chest, "How are you feeling though babe?"

I kissed her head, "I'm… I'm feeling a little overwhelmed, running both barns and… You know… Having another baby and the gang all being here…"

She turned and gently kissed me, "We're going to get through this, just like we did when we lost Ivy… We're going to make it."

I wrapped my arm around her waist, half an hour later I carried her to bed.


	19. Chapter 19

Dallas

My alarm started going off at five, and I knew Beth would wake up quicker than I would. I'd already been working for Darry's company for about a month now, our apartment in New York was sold and Beth was just finishing unpacking everything that her parents brought back. She sat up like I knew she would and went into the bathroom and started the shower. When I went into the washroom she kissed me gently, already changed out of my shirt. This was how every morning went- we'd shower, she'd make breakfast and then I'd go to work and if she were tired she would go back to bed.

Some how I kept getting roped into the night shifts with Theo and it frustrated me until I would come back to bed and see her fast asleep. She was now six and a half months pregnant and her bump was clearly visible now (obviously) but it made it much harder for her to sleep comfortably.

I put some soap onto my hands and started to wash her body- some morning's I'd get lucky and get some sex before work, others she was dead tired and wasn't up to it.

"How did you sleep?" She asked softly, wrapping her arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around her waist as tight as I could, her bump getting in the way. She rested her head on my chest however and I knew that this is when she was most content.

"I slept great, I'm not going to lie, my pillow is pretty uncomfortable now, but I still slept fairly well." She grinned and I felt her snicker,

"Maybe you oughta get some better pillows then, you're a real pain in my ass when you're cranky."

I chuckled and slapped her butt. She grinned and kissed me softly before rinsing us off and getting out. She dried off before pulling on her house coat on and heading down the stairs. I went back into my room and into the closet before pulling on a pair of cargo pants and the company shirt. I walked down the stairs and smiled when I saw in front of the stove, holding Theo as she fried some vegetables.

"Really? What the hell are you trying to feed me?" I asked, going around her to steal a piece of fried pepper.

"I'm trying to feed you healthy," She said, handing me Theo and mixing egg in to make an omelette.

"Make your coffee, this will be ready in five minutes." I put the dog under my arm and started making my mug of coffee.

"How do you feel?" I asked her, noticing she was slowly rubbing her bump.

"Like a whale and I'm not even close to the end of the third trimester."

"What do you have planned today?" I asked, and she shrugged,

"My clothes are starting to get tight again so I'm planning to head to the mall, not very long though because Theo will have to go out."

"Well… Why don't you just wait for me to get home babe? Then Theo won't be alone for a long period of time."

"Long? How long do you think I'll be shopping for?"

"I know you, you're so picky with your clothes and now to makes things worse it'll be maternity clothes."

She rolled her eyes and put some toast in the toaster, pouring herself a glass of some sort of smoothie.

"What the hell is in there?" I asked, eyeing it carefully. She sipped some and smiled,

"Peach, apple, grape, some lemonade, strawberry and some coconut water."

"That looks disgusting." I said, happily settling with my coffee.

She buttered my toast and put the omelette on a plate for me, making herself a bowl of cereal with berries and some sort of flavoured milk. I don't know how she ate this healthy- when she did it made me crave a cheeseburger.

We went to the table and started eating, she was reading some pregnancy book and I settled with the newspaper (comics) on my phone.

"Will you be home on time today?" She asked, putting the book down. I nodded,

"As far as I know baby. What's for dinner?"

She shrugged, "I'm going to try and look for some new recipes to try."

I shrugged, "Find some with bacon. I'm dying for bacon."

"Well I didn't pack you a lunch, so go out with your buddies and get a cheeseburger with extra bacon."

I grinned and shrugged, "I'm sold."

She shook her head smiling and I finished my food, getting up to wash the dishes. She finished eating and brought Theo into the backyard. When she came in I was pulling on my boots and she came over, putting Theo down and wrapping her arms around me,

"I love you, work safe please." She said, kissing me. I kissed her back, resting my hands on her bump,

"Always babe, safe is my middle name."

She shook her head grinning and I kissed her head, "Have a great day babe."

"You too." I grabbed my keys and drove to the job site.

"Morning," I said to the temporary project manager as I punched in.

"Morning Winston. Will you be finishing any houses today?" He asked, moving around from behind his desk and sitting against the front side.

"I think so, I've got to pressure check house three and four, and house number one was bought and they wanted bigger pipes and a shower in the basement so I'm going to take Garrett and we're going to install more piping into that house."

He nodded, "Great. There is one thing I wanted to talk to you about- I don't want you being on your phone so much. There have been a couple… comments, about your phone usage and I would like that to seize."

I grit my teeth, "Man my fiancée is pregnant so I check my phone to make sure that she's alright. I ain't on my phone no more than Dominic or Garrett for that matter. She's still recovering from three bullet wounds as well."

He rubbed his chin before nodding, "Fine. I'll allow you to keep checking, but still keep it to a minimum. This isn't you working alone anymore."

"Yeah I know. Now I gotta train some idiot that doesn't know the difference between his ass and a hole in the ground."

"Language," He said sternly, "I'm not Olivia and I won't let you walk all over me. I'm going to do the job I got hired for and nothing less. This won't be a vacation like it usually was. I'm going to do the job the right way and not be everyone's friend."

"There's a reason we respect her and not you." I said, grabbing my bag and I got back into my truck, driving to the back of the site.

My phone rang just as I put the truck in park and I sighed when I saw Darry calling me.

"Sup man?"

"Good morning to you too. What's this I hear about your altercation with Chris?"

"It wasn't an altercation. He got pissed at me for checking my phone and started insulting Olivia. He's a sexist pig that's done fuck all since he started here."

Darry sighed, "Just turn your temper down a notch. Check your phone when you need to okay? There's going to be a new apprentice starting today, he's going to be replacing Garrett on your service, I've moved Garrett to be with Michael."

"Sounds great. What's his name?"

"Not his, hers. Hannah will be there around nine today, she just graduated from college in May and she worked for her dad's company for a bit so she has some knowledge."

"Why'd you stick her with me?"

"Because Michael is a pervert and I know that Beth is going to help keep you in place."

I chuckled, "She'd shoot my nuts off."

"Exactly. See you later."

He hung up and I started working. When Hannah showed up I could hear the truck but this house was almost done. My phone started ringing and I saw an unknown number so I picked up,

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's Hannah, Chris told me to give you a call once I got to the house."

"You outside of house number one?"

"Yes."

"Come downstairs and bring your tools and a three quarter pipe wrench."

"Okay, bye." She hung up and came downstairs two minutes later.

"Hi Hannah, I'm Dallas."

She smiled, "Nice to meet you."

I started explaining the basics of what we were going before I realized that she knew more than I expected for a recent graduate.

"You work as a plumber before you got your degree?" I asked and she nodded,

"Here and there, my Dad owns a drains business so I worked alongside him since I was eighteen."

"What made you want to get a diploma?"

"Well my husband is in the military and we have five kids, so I needed a job that paid more but gave me solid and steady hours."

"Jesus," I muttered when she said five kids, and she smiled,

"I know what you're thinking. My eldest is eighteen, and the ages range from there. Once we decided to stop at two I divorced my first husband and I met Dave, and then Dave and I decided we wanted one together and I got pregnant with twins, and then our last one was a.. Surprise." She said smiling. "Do you have any kids?"

I shook my head, "Not yet but my fiancée is about six and a half months pregnant with a boy."

"Well congratulations. Will this be the first child for both of you?"

I nodded, "Yeah."

"Are you two planning on having more?"

"Yeah. Our negotiation was that she would be a stay at home Mom if we had at least two kids and a dog."

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Yeah, why not? She was a police officer and she escaped death once and I knew we wouldn't be that lucky next time."

"Well… If you ever get a divorce you would have to pay her more."

"We're not getting a divorce. We both don't believe in that."

"There are other circumstances to a divorce than you may think." She retorted and I rose my eyebrow,

"Growing up in my neighbourhood I've seen them all. Believe me, divorce isn't an option."

She nodded and we started working. She was much more efficient that Garrett was, and on lunch just as I was driving to the nearest burger joint my phone started ringing,

"Hello?" I said, through the Bluetooth in the work truck. Hannah was sitting next to me and Chuck was in the back seat.

"Hi Dallas…" Beth said softly and I knew something was wrong just by the sound of her voice. I pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car, changing it to my phone.

"Beth what's wrong? What's going on?"

"We have a surprise visitor, um… Brandon is here."

I took a deep breath and rubbed my face, "Do you feel comfortable with being there alone with him?"

She was quiet and I could tell that she wasn't.

"No," She finally said, "I don't feel comfortable or safe being here alone with him."

"Okay, do you feel comfortable telling him to leave and going to stay with someone or did you need me to come home?"

"You can't come home or you'll lose your job." She said,

"That doesn't matter, there's no shortage of jobs for a plumber. Do you need me to come home?"

I heard some talking in the background and I heard Beth take a deep breath, "Yes please."

"Okay, don't hang up, I'm going to get someone to drop me off okay?"

"Okay," She answered softly and I got back in the truck,

"Chuck I need to get home, do you mind driving back from my place?"

He shook his head, "Go man."

I started driving and when I pulled in front of the driveway I practically hopped out of the car and went inside quickly. I noticed that Beth was trying to keep as much distance as she could between Brandon and herself.

"Hi baby," I said, going over and kissing her more passionately than usual.

"Hey," She said, a little breathlessly.

"How you doin'?" I asked, making sure to put on the New York accent and do my best to appear threatening. I knew it wasn't hard, Brandon was a nerd and a timid one at that. How he scored Beth in the first place I'll never know.

"I'm okay, Dallas, this is Brandon, my ex… This is my fiancé Dallas." She said, taking my hand in hers tightly. He nodded stiffly. I guess the ring wasn't enough of an indication that she was engaged.

I only nodded at him. It wasn't nice to meet him, well I guess in a way it was. Because he fucked up I got the girl I've always wanted.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him and he shrugged,

"I was just passing through and thought I'd stop in and see how Beth was doing."

"She's been fantastic without you. Now that you've stopped in uninvited please get out of my house."

He looked at Beth and she nodded, "You left me Brandon… You left me at the alter and I've moved on and I'm happy then I've ever been."

He glanced at her and she shrugged, "I love Dallas in a way that I've never loved you. He supports me in a way you never did and he was there for me when I needed him the most and you weren't."

"That's ridiculous Elizabeth. I gave you everything, your dream house, your dream car, your dream wedding, I let you work as a police officer and I supported you when you moved to New York."

"But what you don't understand is that you left me. You still left me at the alter and I wasn't happy with you no matter what you think you gave me. You gave me all of that to make up for the fact that you were never home and sleeping around on me."

"You weren't supposed to find out about that." He stated and I grit my teeth,

"Like I said before get out of my house. All that matters is you fucked up and you lost the best thing that could ever happen to you." He looked between Beth and I and he sighed,

"As long as you're happy Elizabeth…"

"I am happy. I'm the happiest that I've ever been."

He nodded and walked out and just as he walked out my phone started ringing. It was my boss Chris,

"Dallas where the hell are you?"

"I'm at home."

"Excuse me?"

"Look I had to come home. I'm on my way back in now and I'll come and talk to you once I'm back."

"You're damn right you will, and you'll be explaining yourself in front of the owner too."

I sighed, "Okay. See you soon."

I hung up and Beth picked Theo up, getting the keys to her SUV. She drove me back to the site and when we pulled in Darry came over and shook his head,

"Dallas I didn't hire-" He saw Beth still looking scared and uncomfortable and his annoyed look disappeared,

"What happened?"

"Her ex showed up and forced his way inside," I said, getting out of the car. Darry sighed,

"I'm sorry Beth. Charolette should be home, I'm sure she'd love some company." Beth nodded and I leaned back into the car and kissed her,

"I love you."

She smiled softly looking into the back of the car to check on Theo. I moved him into the passenger seat for her and kissed her again,

"Drive safe." She nodded and turned around, driving away. I looked at Darry and I shrugged,

"Fire me if you want, but that girl is more important than any job."

He nodded and sighed, "You know I won't fire you but don't make me look bad okay? I hired you, I did the right process but if I keeps sticking my neck out for you it'll make me look bad."

I grinned and shrugged, "Lay in to me like you used to when we were younger."

Darry started smiling and shook his head, "Dallas I'm not going to do that. Not today at least, you had a logical excuse. Your fiancée and your child were in danger."

I nodded and followed him into the trailer.

"Have a seat," Darry said, shaking Chris's hand and I sat in one of the chairs,

"Would you like to explain what was so important you left work and came back an hour late on top of your lunch break?" Chris asked, sitting back in his chair. Darry sat on my side and I sighed,

"My fiancée's ex showed up from New York. He forced his way into our house and my fiancée didn't feel safe or comfortable being there alone with him. My fiancée is six and a half months pregnant- she may be a retired officer but there's only so much you can do with a beach ball attached on your stomach." I glanced at Darry and saw the look he was giving me. I swallowed my pride and looked back at Chris,

"I realize that what I did was wrong, I should have let you know my whereabouts in case of an emergency. I honestly didn't think about anything other than Beth. I'm sorry that I didn't keep you updated."

Chris was silent for a minute before he nodded, "I don't mind you taking care of Beth, especially in a situation like this. But you are right, it was wrong for you not to tell me that you left the job site. Had there been a fire or explosion I would have figured you were dead because I couldn't get a hold of you. I have a child Dallas, I understand what it's like to deal with the appointments. I know your situation is different, with Beth still mentally recovering from her… From when she was shot, but I can understand as long as you keep me in the loop."

I nodded, "Alright Chris. I will do my best to keep you in the loop more. And I will do my best to make sure I'm not on my phone as much."

"Thank you. I assume for any time that you have to miss you'll be working more hours to make sure we stay on track?"

"That's not a problem."

"Okay great. Are there any other issues we need to bring up while I'm here?" Darry asked, clearly happy I didn't blow up on Chris. Seems like we may have just gotten off on the wrong foot.

"The only other thing I'm wondering is when Beth has our baby I'd like to take a week or two off to make sure she doesn't overexert herself."

Chris and Darry both nodded, "That's fine, just try and get most of the bigger jobs done and leave the jobs that Hannah is able to tackle."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Speaking of which, how is Hannah doing?"

"She's good," I said, leaning back, "She knows her stuff, it's unfortunate that she has to start out as an apprentice."

Chris shrugged, "It is what it is. But as long as she'll fit in here then it'll be fine."

Darry nodded in agreement before checking his watch,

"Well I gotta go, I have a meeting to attend but I'm glad this was resolved and we're all on the same page."

"Thank you Darrel." We both shook Darry's hand and I went back to work.

Later that night I started packing my tools up to head home (about an hour later than I should have finished). I'd heard from Beth, she visited with Charolette until the kids finished school and then she went back home. She asked me to pick up some Chinese food and dog food for Theo.

When I got home the house was quiet and I put the food on the table, going upstairs to the washroom to see Beth laying in the soaker tub, Theo sleeping on a towel beside the tub.

"Hey," I said, grinning when I saw all the candles lit.

"Hey… I know you had a rough day after what we dealt with so I thought that maybe we could just take some time to unwind, the two of us."

I couldn't help but grin, undressing and getting into the bath overrun by bubbles with her.

She smiled softly and kissed me, wrapping her arms around my neck. I noticed there was a beer beside the tub and I kissed Beth, happily opening the beer.

"Did you bring home Theo's dog food?" She asked, running her fingers up and down my chest,

"Yes babe, Chinese is also downstairs on the table."

She nodded and rested her head on my chest. I knew she was started to doze off, and I rubbed her back. We soaked in the tub for another twenty minutes or so and I let her nap before I woke her up for dinner.

She carried Theo downstairs and I warmed up the Chinese before we went and sat in front of the television and I turned on our favourite show, a show about murders that happened between friends.

Once we finished eating she adjusted herself so she was in more of a recline position and Theo curled into her.

"Did you get into a lot of trouble for coming home?" She asked and I shrugged,

"Not too much babe, Chris understands the circumstances but he just wants me to keep him updated if I'm off site."

"I really do appreciate you coming home… Right before you got here he started saying things… Like how he missed the pass… Then he started commenting on how good our sex was and he kept trying to move closer to me."

"Babe no job is ever important enough to me to risk your safety. Ever."

She nodded and took my hand in hers and we watched tv for the rest of the night silently.

Around bed time she took Theo outside and I went upstairs to pull the covers back and get into bed.

She brought Theo up and put him in his crate and changed into another one of my shirts and got into bed beside me.

She adjusted all of her pillows before comfortably before she fell asleep. I watched her as she slept, she was perfect to me. I gently reached over and stroked her cheek. I don't think she had any idea how much she meant to me.


	20. Chapter 20

Ponyboy

My first week back to work was hell. I had so many patients that I had to stay late every night. I knew that Audrey was absolutely pissed at me but there wasn't much more I can do. I worked for a private practice, meaning I could make my own hours, but between my girls and work I was feeling worn out and constantly exhausted. Doctor Cross came into my office carrying a coffee and I smiled.

"You look more worn out than you did before your vacation, Ponyboy." He said, handing me the coffee. I nodded,

"It definitely feels like it sir." Doctor Cross was the easiest person I've ever worked for. He tried to typically be my friend before my boss, therefore making this job even just a little easier.

"What's going on?" I sighed and leaned back in my chair,

"Audrey… She wants another baby and I strongly disagreed with her… And she said if I didn't stop working so much she would… She wouldn't be happy. Find someone else who had time for them. We reconciled but then this week has just been absolute hell. I've hardly seen them all week and I know she's pissed at me."

"Well I've noticed you've got a lot on your shoulders lately… I may have a possible solution."

I looked at him, interested his his "solution".

"I'm looking at hiring another doctor to work part time if you wanted to as well. Depending on how the report comes back I may be able to get you a raise."

I nodded and reached to shake his hand, "Yes sir… Thank you very much."

"Start by taking the rest of the week off. I've got two interviews and then we're going to be starting your new schedule for sure next week. Go home Ponyboy and save your marriage."

I let out a sigh of relief and nodded, "Sir you have no idea how much of a dream it's been since I started working for you."

"You're like a son to me Ponyboy."

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Now go home and see your family."

I nodded gratefully and pick up my brief case, saying good night before I drove home. When I

got on my street I sighed when I realized that Audrey's parents were over for dinner.

When I walked into the door Scarlett came over to greet me and I could hear Audrey and her

Mom in the kitchen chatting quietly and her Dad was playing with the girls in the backyard.

"Audrey?" I called, taking my coat off and putting my brief case in the cupboard.

"In the kitchen," She called, and I walked in, kissing her softly before hugging Audrey's Mom, Anna.

"Hello dear, how are you?" She asked, patting my arm gently. Anna was barely five feet tall, and Audrey was only a tad taller than her.

"I'm much better than I was this morning. Audrey... Well I talked to Doctor Cross and... He's offered me a part time position.. And he's going to hire another doctor to help pick up the slack."

I knew she would tell her Mom anyways, the entire family was extremely close and I was glad- I had really missed the family atmosphere until they welcomed me into their family.

"Oh Pony..." I saw her anger slowly melt away and I knew that this would make her happy.

"I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to keep my promise but... I already told him that I would take the offer. I know I've been working more since we got back and I promised I wouldn't and I'm sorry."

She hugged me tightly and I kissed the top of her head. "I'm also sorry that I forgot that your parents were coming over, there was just so much on my mind-"

"Baby don't worry okay? I know that you're working so hard at work but we're going to… We're going to start taking it easier and spend more times with the girls."

I nodded and the back door opened and Maddie came running over to me. I crouched down and picked her up, resting her on my hip and kissing her head,

"Hi dada!" She said, wrapping her arms around my neck. I rubbed her back and Dad came in carrying Harri, smiling at me,

"Ponyboy hey, how's work going?" Mom reached for Harri who eagerly went into her arms.

"It's going good Dad, Doctor Cross has revised my schedule so I'll essentially be working part time from now on."

"That's great Ponyboy!" They all knew that work had been putting a strain on my marriage and I was happy that I'd finally get the chance to slow down. I feel like I haven't had a break since I graduated high school. Most breaks I had during university consisted of studying and extra work to make sure I knew more than anyone else. We started getting our plates full for dinner and went to the table to eat-usually Audrey and I were strict with the girls' manners but tonight I thought I could make an exception and let Maddie sit in my lap to eat. She eagerly did so, I knew that from now on I had to prioritize my girls' life before they got too big to care about me or the relationship we wouldn't have.

"So have you two thought about going to the vacation house?" Her Dad asked and I looked at Audrey,

"To be honest I forgot all about it but I'm sure we wouldn't mind the vacation, let me talk to Doctor Cross and see when I can take some time off."

Audrey looked at her parents, "Is the house being rented this week?"

Her Mom checked her calendar and smiled, "No, the next rental is Monday."

Audrey looked at me and I knew what she was thinking and she was right. We needed some time away, just the four of us to get back to when things were less stressful.

"Do you think we could go up?" I asked hopefully. Dad smiled and nodded,

"Sounds good to me. You two heading up that way tonight?" He asked and I nodded,

"Yeah that's not a bad idea. We can get there for the morning and spend the first day there on the beach." Mom smiled,

"Well if you're taking the Range Rover and you've got extra room let me know, we've got some sheets to send back up."

"We can make room Mom, we'll pick them up before we leave." We continued eating before we started into the kitchen to do the dishes,

"Let me do those," Mom said, "Go and get packing, you both deserve the vacation." We smiled in appreciation and I brought Maddie to her room and I started packing her a bag. It was easy to pack for Maddie, she had outfits hung together and I just got a few pretty outfits, a couple hats, socks and underwear, swimsuit, and some shoes. I knew that I'd have ot pack their tooth brushes, Maddie would also need her bear- Cherries, and her blanking, but they were both small enough they could fit in the overnight back for her.

I brought Maddie into my room as I packed things for myself, two pairs of jeans, a bathing suit, a couple different shirts, a sweater, and some socks and underwear as well. I packed my washroom stuff, consisting of a razor, body wash, shampoo, toothbrush, and a comb. I then remembered that Maddie would probably need a sweater at the very least so I went back into her room to get one of those. Audrey came out of Harri's room with a small bag packed as well and we left it at the top of the stairs. I grabbed my favorite pillow and Audrey's favorite pillow and Dad started packing it all into the back of the car. This was probably the quickest we've ever gone on vacation. I had to pack my tablet and my laptop, even though I wasn't working persay I still had to answer emails and kept in the loop with follow ups. Audrey packed her book and some activities for the girls to do while we were driving if they were awake. We got dog food packed as well as some toys for Cookie and Scar, Mom and Dad volunteered to watch them while we were gone.

We put everyone in our car that was supposed to be there before we followed Mom and Dad back to their house, grabbing the sheets and some other things that had to go back. I rubbed my eyed tiredly and Audrey smiled,

"Why don't I drive babe? I had a nap today with the girls." I looked at her and I couldn't help but smile,

"Okay babe, thanks." We hugged her parents good bye before we climbed into the Rover, and I lowered the seat back so I could fall asleep. I woke up a couple hours later so see both girls fast asleep in their car seat and Audrey singing along to the radio quietly.

I reached over and gently rested my hand on her thigh. "You alright?"

She nodded, reaching down to lace her fingers with mine, "I'm okay, I was thinking about stopping so I could use the washroom but I didn't want to leave you guys sleeping while I ran in somewhere." I nodded and wiped my eyes,

"Alright babe, why don't you pull over when you can and I'll keep my eye on the girls while you go to the washroom?" She nodded and started making her way over a couple lanes to get off at the next on route. She ran in quickly and I checked my phone, seeing a couple messages in the group chat from the boys, and a few emails from Doctor Cross that were just to keep me informed. Audrey came back out with two coffees and I couldn't help but smile. Audrey and I were coffee addicts.

"Thanks babe, did you want me to drive for the next little while?" I asked and she shook her head,

"I'm okay for a little longer babe, I'm sure it won't be much longer before the girls need to use the washroom." I nodded in agreement, and I couldn't help but look at my wife and wonder how I'd ever gotten so lucky.

 _I was sitting on the rooftop terrace one night, studying and smoking a pack of cigarettes away. I had a big test coming up, and I'd usually do the best work at night. I had music playing quietly, a playlist I'd put together to remind me of home while I missed it. My apartment wasn't anything nice, there wasn't even a bedroom for me and I didn't really have enough room for a couch, but this was what I could afford, even with Darry and Sodapop helping me. When they come to stay over some weekends we either share a bed and one of us ends up on the floor or the two of them will share a hotel room. I have to admit that when they sleep over and Darry wakes us up with breakfast it makes me feel homesick and nostalgic, ninety nine percent of the time I was alone here. I didn't bother with girlfriends and I hardly ever hooked up with girls. I put the butt of my cigarette in the planter beside me and I blew out what was left in my lungs. I took a sip of Pepsi- Darry had told me the last time he was here if I didn't cut it out my teeth would be rotten._

 _I changed the song and I started reviewing my notes and I heard a strangely comforting voice start talking,_

 _"AC/DC huh? That's what you study with?" I looked around before looking to my right and I saw a girl walking over. God she was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. She was in a plain black tank top that was a deep v-neck with laces running across her chest and a pair of light washed jeans. Her hair was wavy and a really beautiful shade of dark auburn an her eyes were the shade of chestnuts._

 _"It reminds me of when I didn't want to stab my eyes out because of studying." I said and she grinned,_

 _"What are you taking?"_

 _"I'm majoring in paediatrics at Baylor, how about you?" She grinned,_

 _"No way, I'm majoring in psychiatry and behaviour sciences." I grinned,_

 _"Wow that's awesome. It's funny we've never met before."_

 _"Yeah, especially since we live in the same building." She said playfully and I smiled,_

 _"Did you want to sit? I'm tired of studying." I said and she seemed to consider my offer briefly before nodding,_

 _"Sure thing." She went inside and I looked down to try and remember what I was wearing. I counted my blessings that I was at least wearing a nicer pair of sweatpants and my old track teeshirt._

 _She walked out and smiled, taking the seat beside me after I moved my laptop._

 _"Are you hungry? I was just thinking about ordering some food." I said and she nodded,_

 _"That'd be great. What did you want to order?"_

 _"There's a small burger joint down the road that delivers and I'm on a first name basis with their delivery guy."_

 _"Okay sure, what do they have there?" She asked and I pulled out my phone where I had a list of things they offered, they didn't even have a website for a menu._

 _"I usually get the double cheeseburger with bacon and fries and onion rings."_

 _She looked me up and down before looking back at my phone, "Alright that sounds good to me. I'll do the same. But sweet potato fries instead of regular fries."_

 _I nodded and called to order. While I was on the phone she started reading over some of my notes. She smiled when I hung up and I smiled at her,_

 _"I'm Ponyboy by the way." She giggled,_

 _"Yeah and my name is Cloud."_

 _I grinned, I hadn't expected her to take it well (no one ever does, but I was happy she was capable of joking)._

 _"I'm serious."_

 _"Yeah right. Let me see some I.D." She said, turning so she was facing me and crossing her legs. I pulled out my wallet and showed her my drivers license and she grinned,_

 _"I'll be damned. Nice to meet you Ponyboy Michael Curtis, I'm Audrey."_

 _"Well it's very nice to meet you Audrey."_

 _"So where are you from? You don't sound like you're from around here," She observed, and I shook my head,_

 _"No, I'm originally from Oklahoma but I've been here since I was eighteen and I started at Texas State."_

 _"No kidding, I went there too! Wow, what are the odds we've only met now?"_

 _"Right? God, what are the odds we both got into Baylor and ended up neighbours." I said, and she grinned and shrugged,_

 _"Maybe it's fate."_

 _I laughed and reached for a cigarette, "You smoke?" I asked and she nodded, so I lit the cigarette for her and I lit one for myself, taking a deep breath, letting the smoke fill my cravings. She took a drag before she started coughing and I grinned,_

 _"You didn't need to take it, you know."_

 _She grinned and put the cigarette out, "I don't smoke very often, hardly ever but I've been with guys that smoke." I nodded and shrugged, blowing the smoke out._

 _"I'm trying to quit, I'm planning on it when I find a co-op placement because I don't want to smoke around kids, but it's so much easier to use this and running to relieve my stress."_

 _"You run? You don't run alone around here do you?" She questioned and I shook my head,_

 _"No I usually walk to the campus and then I try and run by the river." She smiled,_

 _"Well that's good, I love my studio apartment but the neighborhood doesn't exactly make me feel safe."_

 _I smiled, I could tell just from her clothes that she had come from a well off family, but to me this neighbourhood was ten times nicer than the one we had back home._

 _"I like this neighbourhood to be honest. It's like this back home, if not a little worse. It feels comfortable to me." She nodded in understanding and we heard footsteps coming up the fire escape and I grinned,_

 _"Alex, hey!" I said, getting my wallet out to get the money to pay. Alex grinned and shook his head,_

 _"Nah man it's on us this time. Enjoy!" He said, passing me the two paper bags. I grinned when I saw the extra Pepsi and I couldn't help but chuckle when there was a note from Alex's mom, the restaurant owner. 'So glad you finally have company! See you soon sweetie!'_

 _Audrey read it over my shoulder and grinned, "How often do you order from here?" She asked, getting the food out of the bag,_

 _"Oh god at least once a week if not more. During the exam season probably once a day." She laughed and started eating the fries,_

 _"If the burger is better than this I understand why. This is fantastic."_

 _We ate in silence before she wiped her mouth off and smiled at me, "So Ponyboy, tell me about you."_

 _"Well… You already know where I went to school and where I'm from. I have two brothers, Sodapop and Darry. Darry is married with a baby boy, Darrel Junior, following our tradition, and Sodapop is seeing a girl named Presley. I have four other guys I'm really close with, we're practically brothers as well but my best friend got a scholarship to a school in Maine, and then found a girl there so I hardly see him any more, he can't really afford to keep coming home on holidays and breaks."_

 _"That's tough, I'm sorry. Do you guys skype at least?"_

 _"Yeah, we facetime, especially when he had homework- he's a paramedic and he tended to have a hard time understanding and studying so I had the knowledge to at least make it easier. But now we text every day and we try to call once a week if not more."_

 _"Well that's great!"_

 _"Tell me about you." I asked smiling. She grinned and took a sip of her Pepsi,_

 _"Well I'm an only child, I have a few really good friends at home in Plano that come to visit every so often, and here I have a few friends but none that are life long or anything."_

 _"Are you close with your parents if you're an only child?" She nodded,_

 _"I've been close with my parents my entire life. They've never really given me a reason not to be close with them. Are you close with your parents?"_

 _I felt a small pain in my heart- this is the thing I hated most about getting to know new people._

 _"Uh yeah, we're all pretty close." I said, looking down. She took my hand,_

 _"Ponyboy… I'm sorry that was a stupid question… There's a reason you've only ever had your brothers over."_

 _"It's okay, it's been a while now and I've… well I've moved on. They died when I was thirteen and… I don't think I truly accepted their deaths until after I graduated high school. I guess a part of me always hoped that we'd been lied to and Mom and Dad would waltz in one day like nothing went wrong."_

 _She nodded and then moved closer to me, resting her head on my shoulder. I kissed her head softly and we both looked up at the stars._

 _"So any reason for the fancy get up?" I asked after a little while and she smiled and shrugged,_

 _"Some of my friends dragged me out and I ended up spending some time with this gross guy… He just made me feel uneasy and I left early so I wanted to come and clear my head. I guess I'm lucky I did." She said smiling at me. I took this opportunity to gently kiss her._

When we finally arrived at the beach house it was around four in the morning and I was exhausted and so was Audrey. We brought the girls in the house before tucking them into bed in the room beside the master. Audrey and I got as far as getting undressed before we laid down and we were out like lights.


	21. Chapter 21

Steve

"What about this one?" I said, moving the laptop so that Tessa could see. She looked at it before shrugging,

"It's alright Steve… I just don't know if we should jump back into this." Tessa said nervously and I bit my lip,

"Babe… Believe me I know that things are great here… We don't pay for anything and there's more than enough room for us to be independent here but… I just… I don't like depending on Soda and Presley for somewhere to live. These listings are something we can afford, the real estate agent knows what our budget is."

"I know she knows that Steve. I just… I don't want us to get in the same position we did the with the apartment. Although this time we're going to be buying a house instead of renting and that's so much more dangerous. I just… I don't really feel comfortable moving out yet. We need more money to fall back on and with two kids… Julian is about to start school and Natalie is still a baby that requires a lot of care and a lot of money. Our only income is the shop and it's going great now but… God forbid there was a slow month… Steve we'd be struggling worse than we already are."

"Tess I don't like depending on other people for hand outs and you know that. I've done the math, I've talked with the real estate agent and the bank. We can move."

She swallowed hard and nodded and I rubbed my face, "Babe I don't want to bully you into this… But being here, living off Soda and Presley, living here essentially for free… It makes me really uncomfortable. I know that they're insisting it's fine but I don't know that it is. They could be making good money on this apartment. This apartment is probably double what we paid for our shitty apartment."

"Steve can't you just accept the fact that they don't care they're not renting it out? They've told us before they wouldn't rent it anyways since they don't want to subject the kids to strangers living in the basement."

I sighed and laid back, closing the laptop. I hated that I was in this position. Had I have just stayed a mechanic at one of the dealerships this wouldn't be a problem. Get paid for over time, get a regular week to week pay check no matter the speed or economy. Now my family's future depended on a variable I could only hope stayed consistent.

Natalie started crying and I got up, kissing Tessa softly before going to get Natalie. I picked her up and gently cradled her to my chest, bringing her back into our room. I handed her to Tessa who already had her shirt off to feed her.

"Look Steve… I know that this makes you uncomfortable but everything we have here we'd never be able to afford on our own. A beautiful kitchen… A dream of a master bedroom and ensuite, the kids have huge rooms… If we were to move out again do you really think that we'd be able to afford anything this nice if we were to leave? We could hardly afford to have a two bedroom apartment."

She sighed and I reached over to rub Natalie's back.

"If it really bothers you that much Steve why don't you talk to Soda about paying some rent or something so we're not mooching off of them?" I nodded and burped Natalie, kissing her head as she curled into me. This was logically the best thing for my family, regardless if I wanted to get a discount rent off of my best friend.

"I guess I can talk to him in the morning while we're working." Even though it was the weekend Soda had asked if I'd be able to help him out getting the equipment working properly and do some manual labor since Presley was on bed rest. Of course I agreed to help, I think he even had most of the boys coming up to also help. As things were piling up his list kept growing and he needed more than his stable hands to help.

I knew for sure some of his equipment wasn't running, Darry was coming to help create new jump stands and help renovate the viewing room, Dallas was coming up to run some hot water lines through the barns for various sinks and to a new washroom. Two-bit and Johnny were likely just going to help out wherever, and I knew Olivia was going to help Darry working on the new viewing room.

Tessa nodded, she volunteered to help move some of the horses and do some of the work they needed in the stables, like new name plates and hooks, Soda was also going to be replacing the doors on the lockers for each of the horses with newer wood and since Tessa was a relatively handy woman so she took that on (I taught her how to use a drill and other tools).

I kissed her head and laid Natalie between us. We tried not to let her sleep in the bed with us, we only broke Julian out of that habit a month ago but sometimes I didn't want to let her out of my sight. We had a baby monitor in both rooms so we could also hear what Julian was up to.

Tessa turned the light off and leaned over Natalie to kiss me. I kissed her back, rubbing her side,

"You did good baby… You gave us the most perfect little girl." She smiled and kissed me again,

"Thank you for loving me and choosing me Steve… And giving me the most perfect future I could imagine."

"Bullshit," I said with a smirk on my face and she grinned,

"All I've ever wanted was kids and a husband that loved me regardless of anything and you do. You know money means nothing to me Steve, it never has and it never will. As long as we have a roof over our heads, our health, our love, and each other, we're going to be okay. I don't care if that's in some shack. But while we have the option to stay at a beautiful place like this… Outside of Tulsa, on a farm where the kids are subjected to such a different life… I would prefer this."

I nodded and kissed her again, resting my arm over her so Natalie was safe between us.

The next morning I had the alarm set for early, I was making breakfast for Tessa and Julian, resting Natalie against me as I flipped the pancakes. Soda knocked on the door at the bottom of the stairs and I went over to open it,

"Hey man, you two are still able to help right?" I nodded,

"Yeah of course. I'm just making breakfast. Did you want some pancakes?" He nodded and came in and I closed the door.

"Look man there's something I want to talk to you about." I said and Soda nodded, getting a glass of chocolate milk from the fridge.

"I just… Living here… Free of any charges is making me uncomfortable. I know… I know that you did this as a favour but… Tessa and I want to start contributing. We don't want to move out of here… It's a good life and atmosphere for Julian and Natalie to grow up in but… We don't want to mooch."

Soda rose his eyebrow and shrugged, "Alright, but I'm not accepting anything expensive. Remember that if you guys are here or not we don't get any money."

"Yeah but I'm not dumb. I know your bills have all increased."

"Well… I'll tell you what. Tomorrow you and I can sit down with the girls and we'll compare bills from the last previous months and we'll come up with a figure you guys pay us. But please, don't worry about rent. If… If you want to pay rent down the road sure, but we're okay for now. Save your money man, I know it's not cheap right now and I know you two still have things to pay off. I'll wait, happily. We're not in the place that we need the money. Especially with you helping me out big time if you can fix the equipment."

I nodded and handed him a plate and Tessa came out with Julian, in one of my sweaters and short sleep shorts and damn did she look hot.

"Oh, Sodapop I didn't know you were down here…" Tessa said blushing and Soda smiled,

"It's okay Tess, it's your guy's place."

"Let me get changed," She said and Soda shook his head,

"No don't Tessa. This is your home and if anything I should leave. But you don't have to cover up if you don't want too. You're practically my sister." She nodded and sat at the table and I gave her Natalie before putting plates down and making two mugs of coffee for Tessa and I.

We ate in silence and Tessa smiled, "Is Presley still asleep?" Soda nodded,

"Yeah, she tends to get morning sickness after it's barely morning and it lasts a couple hours or so. Therefore she just tends to sleep in more often than not, and since she's essentially on bed rest she gets restless at night when it's time to sleep."

"You look exhausted," I noted and he gave us a tired grin,

"I feel like I've been hit by a bus. Between Presley taking time off and her Dad wanting to slow down I've taken on triple my old work load and with Presley being sick first thing in the morning it doesn't give me much time to catch up on sleep."

"If there's a day you want to catch up on sleep you can always give me a list of things to do for you man." I offered and he nodded gratefully.

"I'll keep that in mind man, thanks." We finished eating and I started washing the dishes, before changing into a pair of work jeans and an old ratty teeshirt. I grabbed my tool box from the back of my truck and Soda took me to where the old equipment had been accumulating. He explained the problem with each of them and I turned on my wireless radio and set to work.

I have to admit I loved the challenge of farm equipment. Working on cars for as long as I have you tend to get used to the same problems and the farm equipment was challenging- in a good way.

"Hey there handsome," I heard Tessa say and I turned around to see her walking over holding a lunch bag.

"Damn, well hello there beautiful." She came over and kissed me, wrapping her arms around my neck.

"How's everything going babe? Are you taking it easy?" She nodded and kissed me again,

"Yes, I've gotten everything Soda asked for done and he wanted me to take a break so I decided to come and visit my wonderful husband."

I chuckled and helped her into the bench seat of the tractor, bringing the lunch bag up with me. I opened it to see my favourite- bologna sandwiches with jalapeños.

"God you know just what I like woman," I said, taking a huge bite. I grinned when I saw two with 'S' on it and I couldn't help but kiss her, "You're perfect, do you know that?" She grinned and started eating her sandwich.

"So did you talk to Soda this morning?"

I nodded, "Yes, he said that we could sit down and compare their bills to previous ones so we know how much we would pay and we'll start paying for bills. But he doesn't want us to pay rent yet."

She smiled and gently rubbed my knee, "Do you feel better now? Knowing you can raise your kids here guilt free? Julian was helping Soda today with some of the chickens and he loves it Steve."

"I know baby… I know. I do feel better but I still feel like a mooch." She smiled and kissed me,

"I love you for the man that you are Steve. I love that you're so stubborn." I smiled and kissed her head before I continued eating,

"So are you helping out after lunch?" I asked and she shook her head,

"I thought I could help out my sexy mechanic husband. How's it going here?" She asked, looking around,

"Good, so far everything's been working, most just needed new gaskets or spark plugs." I said, starting my second sandwich. God this woman spoiled me and I knew her cooking was no good for me, I'd easily gained twenty pounds.

"That's great. Are you working tomorrow?" She asked and I shook my head,

"No, I decided to take this Sunday off baby. I figured once we're done talking to Soda and Presley I figured we could watch some television… Maybe play a game or something with Julian."

My wife grinned quickly and I kissed her head. I was going to try my hardest with Julian. I had to.


	22. Chapter 22

Darry

I sat in my office going over paper work but my mind couldn't help but wander. I was meeting with DJ's coach later today to talk about what he'd been going through with the team. I was worried it was going to make things worse for DJ- if the coach started giving him special treatment and it would make him a target. If he were to find another team he'd probably have to hide who he was and I definitely didn't want that either. Maybe another sport would be better than football, one with a smaller team.

"Darrel, your wife is here to see you," My receptionist said through the com and I smiled, pushing the tray with the blueprints on it back into my desk,

"Thanks Helen, send her back." There was a soft knock on my door and Charlotte opened it and she looked so beautiful. She came over and sat in my lap before kissing me,

"So DJ finally opened up to me about why he's so nervous about tonight… You're going to talk to his coach?" I nodded and wrapped my arms around her waist,

"I… He loves football. It's hard enough being as tall as he is and younger than all of his team mates but now that they're bullying him… I don't know that I feel comfortable sending him back to play with them babe."

She nodded, "I agree full heartedly. I wasn't sure if you were planning to pull him off of the team or what."

"I will do whatever he says he wants to do. If he doesn't feel comfortable on the team I'm not going to force him. There are other sports, individual sports where he won't be ridiculed by team mates."

We sat in silence for a few moments, just reflecting on what was going to come out of the meeting with his coach tonight.

"He was terrified to tell you, you know. I… I told him there was no reason to be scared… But last night he told you all on his own."

"You knew?" I asked gently and she nodded,

"He told me two months ago… He was scared you'd hate him. And I'm so proud of you for the way you handled it. He… God Darry I wish you saw his face when you sent him to bed… He was so relieved and… So happy that you accepted him. You mean the world to him you know."

"He means everything to me Char… He always has. If nothing goes like he wants tonight then we'll find a different team or a different sport, I don't care as long as he's happy. I refuse to let him be treated as if he's different and I won't let him be walked on."

She smiled and kissed me softly, gently wrapping her arm around my neck, "How's business otherwise?"

"Pretty good, things are a little tight and a little um… Rough on our job site on Peach Street without Olivia but things are going. These guys respected Olivia and she was understanding and this guy is a wake up call I suppose."

She nodded in understanding and I rubbed her back,

"How's the real estate coming?"

"Really good, we've only got a few more to sell on the development you're going to start by Fifth Line."

"They're selling real quick," I noted and she nodded smiling,

"They are. Lots of younger families too, but the really big corner lot was sold to an older couple with seven kids and thirteen grandkids from all around the states."

"Jesus Christ," I said and she laughed, patting my shoulder. She looked at the time and kissed me again,

"What time are you meeting coach?"

"I asked for four, since he's the coach at the school I figured I'd meet you for pick up and I'll stay with DJ and you could take Josie to the park or something while we talked… Unless you want to be there too."

She bit her lip and nodded, "I was hoping to… Maybe we could see if someone could take Josie?"

"Yeah I'll message them and see if anyone is able to." She smiled and kissed me,

"Well I'm going to get lunch with Beth, so I'll come back closer to the end of the school day?" I nodded,

"Yeah, how does three sound?"

"Sounds perfect babe. I love you, see you soon." She walked out and Two-bit texted me that he and Olivia were going to be taking a tour of the elementary school around that time and Josie was welcome to join them so I took him up on his offer. Charlotte was back exactly at three and we took her car to the school, luckily getting a spot before the mad rush of pick up time. The school was roughly half an hour away from where I worked so we were lucky to snag a spot. We waited for DJ and Josie to come out, he came out holding her hand and I waved when I saw Two-bit walking towards us holding the boys's hands. Olivia was pushing the stroller that Raven was in and both of my kids grinned when they saw who was coming over.

"Hey Josie! Did you want to come and walk around the school with us?" Olivia asked and she nodded excitedly, taking her hand. I gently rested my hand on DJ's shoulder, looking down at him, "Are you ready kiddo?" He nodded and I could tell he was nervous. He took my hand tightly and I squeezed his hand, walking into the school, going to the coach's office.

"Hi Darrel, Charlotte," he said, standing up to shake our hands, "Hey kiddo." He said smiling at DJ. He smiled nervously and we sat down in front of him,

"So what brings you three in here?" He asked, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his desk.

"Well… I'm not sure if you've heard but the other boys on the team have been bullying DJ." Charlotte said, she could pick up that I was absolutely fuming already.

"I have heard yes. But not from your son, from the other boys. But frankly, I don't see it as bullying. It was a couple pranks."

I grit my teeth, "Writing 'fag' one someone's equipment isn't a prank, it's bullying." The coached rolled his eyes,

"It was a prank that was supposed to be harmless. You should know Darrel, you played all through high school."

"I played through high school but we were brothers. Nothing tore our team apart. If you don't make a stand against this bullying we're pulling DJ off the team." I threatened and I felt DJ squeeze my hand tightly.

"How do you want me to stop kids from talking? I can't control what comes out of their mouths." He said, leaning back in his chair.

"Enough. He's off the team and I want my money back." I said and the coach rolled his eyes,

"Look Darrel, do you really think this is the best way to fix this? Sheltering him?" Charlotte took a deep breath and I could feel my face heat up in anger,

"Sheltering him? _Sheltering_ him? Oh, you're right, I'm sorry, I suppose you think the right thing to do is leave him on the team where the other boys don't support him and constantly ridicule him. Bullshit. We came on to your team because you made a promise to treat all kids with courtesy and that there would be no bullying tolerated. My boy hasn't felt safe at a practice in months and he hasn't come home happy either. I won't let him grow up doubting himself or being afraid to be who he is. If you're going to be a prick you can fuck off. If nothing is going to change DJ will no longer be on your team. If you're going to say that it's okay for those boys to treat him like he's any different than him, fuck you. Fuck you for being an absolute terrible human being." I stood up,

"I'll take the check with half of what we paid for him to play."

"No." The coached said, tempting me by raising his eyebrow.

"Really? Would you like me to pull the CEO into this? Because he's a buddy of mine and his brother works for me." He grit his teeth and wrote me the check and I slipped it into my pocket, looking at my wife and my son- who hasn't looked happier in months.

"Let's go guys." I wrapped an arm around my wife and DJ, walking out with them.

"Thanks Dad," DJ whispered and I hugged him tightly, rubbing his back,

"I will always have your side baby." He hugged me again and we walked around the school before seeing Two-bit and Olivia sitting in DJ's classroom, talking to his teacher. We knocked on the door and his teacher smiled, waving us in,

"Hello Mr. Miller," I said, shaking his hand. He smiled,

"Darrel, Charlotte I'm glad you're here. I'd actually like to have a chat with you both once I'm done with Mr. And Mrs. Mathews." We nodded,

"Sounds great." We went to sit with Josie as they continued chatting and Mr. Miller talked with Xavier and he seemed to relax when he realized DJ would be in his class.

Once Two-bit and Olivia were done we thanked them for watching Josie before Mr. Miller came over to sit with us and gave DJ a careful look before looking at us,

"How did the meeting go?" He asked and I sighed,

"He won't be playing on that team anymore." I had a good feeling that Mr. Miller had really been helping DJ and for that I was grateful.

"I'm sorry to hear that DJ… But you know that I've got your back in class okay?" He nodded but I knew that DJ was a confident kid in class and he wouldn't have many problems. Mr. Miller had a zero tolerance policy for bullying and I knew we lucked out getting him as a teacher.

DJ nodded and Mr. Miller smiled,

"While you're here I'd like to talk about DJ's marks. I didn't request an interview because there was no need to, his marks are very very impressive and I know you both help him and support him at home." Mr. Miller was a young teacher, Ponyboy's age. They were even friends in high school.

"Yes we do, we try to set aside an hour for reading every night and an hour after school for homework.

"And it shows. I also appreciate you don't allow very much time for video games, that puts him ahead of the game." I smiled, my son didn't have a very big interest in video games. His biggest interest had been football and it was breaking my heart he wasn't on a team anymore.

"I don't really like video games," DJ admitted and Mr. Miller grinned,

"Me either. So your cousin is going to start in our class on Monday, are you excited?" He asked and DJ nodded,

"Yeah! He's my new cousin but I can't wait to see him every day!"

Mr. Miller smiled, "Alright, well thank you for stopping in to see me."

"Of course Mr. Miller, thank you for having us and being here for DJ."

He nodded, "This isn't an easy time in his life and the least I can do is be someone he can lean on."

I shook his hand and we went to our car and I put Josie into her car seat, "Okay how does pizza sound?" The kids cheered and I grinned,

"Alright, I'll call ahead and order some pizza and wings."

"Garlic bread!" Josie said giggling and I grinned, calling the pizza place by our house.

By the time we got to the pizza place it was ready and I went inside to pay and DJ came in after a couple minutes while I waited in line,

"Mom said I could have a pop." I nodded,

"Alright, grab one from the fridge," He grabbed a pop and stood beside me,

"Dad?" He said and I looked down,

"I just… I just want to say thank you for sticking up for me… And taking my side." I wrapped my arm around him and rubbed his arm,

"Buddy, even though you're my son, I will always take your side and I will always do what I can to protect you. You're my everything and I couldn't be more proud of the man that you're going to become."

"You don't care that I don't like girls?" He asked shyly,

"Darrel, as long as you treat the person you love right and they treat you right, I couldn't care less okay?" He hugged me and I kissed his head, before paying for the pizza. I have to admit, back when Charlotte first told me she was pregnant I was terrified. I still feel amazed that I managed to raise Ponyboy, but it wasn't just me raising him. I'd essentially started raising Ponyboy when he was thirteen and I had the help of the other boys around so he could sort of pick and chose which qualities he liked and didn't like. With these kids I'd be starting from scratch and I didn't know how to do that.

He helped me carry the pizza out to the car and I grabbed some plates from the kitchen,

"Why don't we watch a movie with dinner?" I asked, knowing that we always ate at the table. The kids nodded excitedly and I handed plates out, opening the boxes while Char found a family movie to put on. I wrapped my arm around her as we watched the movie, half way through Josie went to get her colouring book and DJ curled up on the floor by Jake. I wrapped both arms around Char and I kissed her softly,

"We did good baby," I whispered and she grinned and kissed me back,

"You did good. I love you."

"I love you too."


	23. Chapter 23

Johnny

I walked into shift on my first day and I have to admit I was nervous. I didn't know anyone and I was just glad that I wasn't a rookie because they'd make my life hell. This wasn't a job that you could pretend to like the guys and get through it- these guys were your family. Through thick and thin, they had to know that you had their back- your life and theirs depended on it.

"Johnny, welcome on board," The Chief said when I walked in. He walked me towards the living space. There were three guys sitting on the couch watching some television show and I assumed everyone else was in the locker room or sleeping.

"Johnny these are our lieutenants, Charlie Green and Sam Hudson. This is Sam's second in command Tony. Boy this is Johnny Cade, the new paramedic."

"Where did you work before?" Sam asked and I smiled,

"Maine, Bar Harbour. We did a lot of marine work on top of the road assistance."

"You're an advanced care paramedic?" Charlie asked and I nodded,

"Yeah." They smiled and told me to help myself to some breakfast. Part of me hoped I knew at least someone here but I had a good feeling I wouldn't. I wasn't very hungry- Elena had stuffed me before I left but the food looked delicious.

I sat at the table and started eating, and the boys came to sit with me.

"So are you married?" Charlie asked, he also had a plate of breakfast,

"Yeah, I've been married for eight years. You guys married?" Charlie nodded and Sam shook his head,

"I've been married for almost fifteen years," Charlie said, cutting some of sausage.

"I haven't found the right girl, I've decided to put the job first."

I nodded in understanding. Sometimes the job got hard on Elena and I, there were a couple times already we'd come close to thinking of calling it quits but that was when we first got married.

"That's fair man. You got kids?" I asked, looking at Charlie and he nodded,

"Yeah, I've got two girls, both are a handful." He said, "They just started getting into the fashion trends and it's costing us a load of money. I also don't like how quickly they're maturing. You got kids?"

I nodded, "Two girls as well. Easton is three and Eleanor is a year old."

Charlie grinned, "You'll have lots to look forward too then. Especially when they get their period."

"Hey," I said playfully, "Don't make me start thinking that far. They're already growing too fast."

He chuckled and I took a sip of my orange juice, and a bunch of guys all walked in.

"You must be Johnny," One of them said, reaching to shake my hand. I stood up and shook each of their hands as they introduced themselves.

"My cousin worked with you up in Maine, Doug Heart." One of them said and I grinned. Doug was a class act- absolutely hilarious but he would willingly die for anyone. He was one of the best fire fighters that I'd ever met.

"No way, Doug was one of the best guy's I've ever met." I said. They each got a plate of food and I wondered where my new partner was. Just as I finished my breakfast two girls walked in, one was in the uniform the paramedics wore and the other was in the same pants as the firefighters.

"Hey Johnny, I'm Heather, your new partner. This is Amanda, she's on Charlie's team."

I shook their hands and she smiled,

"Did you get breakfast? These boys have a habit of hogging all of the food." I nodded grinning.

"Alright why don't I show you around?"

"Yeah sounds good, just let me wash my plate."

"Oh you don't gotta worry about that, that's the Rookie's job." Sam said from reading the paper. I smiled and rinsed my plate off at the least and walked with Heather to the locker room. There was a relatively big locker with a piece of masking tape that looked relatively new. I wrote my name on the tape and put my duffel bag in and I started personalizing it with pictures of my girls, a couple pictures of Elena and I, and an older picture I have of the guys and I. It's gotten me through thick or thin and I intended to keep it that way.

"So how did things go with your last partner?" Heather asked and I nodded,

"Good, he was practically my best friend. I hated leaving the guys I worked with, they were a second family to me but I had to come home to my family. I figure working in a job like this your partner pretty well be close to you or it'll make this job so much harder."

She nodded in agreement and I pulled out a newspaper article from Maine that reminded me that we were all in fact humans.

Paramedic kneels (in tears) to remember the fallen.

That had by far been one of the worst shift I've ever worked. The news had made it around the world quicker than I could call my wife or the boys for that matter. I had my phone turned off as I typically did when I worked in the field and when I had gotten back to the fire house and sat in the break room and turned my phone on it was blowing up with constant texts, every minute there was someone trying to call me.

'How do you feel about this?'

'How do I feel about this? Heart broken. A drunk driver has ripped apart five families and successfully wiped one out of existence.'

I remember them trying to shove a camera in my face and I remember our chief getting in their faces to back off. Not one of us didn't leave in tears. A father and his infant daughter, a mom and her two young sons, a teenage couple, and mother, father, and three boys. All the ages that Pony, Soda, and Darry were when their parents died in the accident.

That accident shut the highway down for two days and there were still memorials all around town to remember them. Elena and the girls had missed that accident by five minutes. Five minutes was all that stood between us mourning the loss of citizens than me mourning the loss of my family.

Heather watched me warily, firehouses across the country all stood with us the day of the funeral of the families, every fire in every city (unless they were on a call). I put the article in my locker and put my duffel bag in the locker, locking it.

"Why don't we go and get some coffee? We're usually quiet around this time of night."

"Yeah sure, sounds good to me." I stood up and went to the truck with her, climbing in the passenger side.

"Do you want to get to know each other? With my last partner we… We started by opening up with the worst cases we've dealt with."

I nodded, "That's fine… I know they'll be a little hard to talk about." She nodded in agreement and pulled into a McDonald's for some coffee,

"The worst case I've ever had… We were outside of a religious centre and there was about twenty citizen's inside and there was a group going around and trying to execute each of them. If they surrendered they wouldn't be seriously injured. Sam and I decided we had to go in, there were a lot of people bleeding to death and the SWAT team was still twenty minutes out. Peter, my partner at the time, wanted to go in and try to help at least. So we all dressed as much down as we could to try and blend in and we snuck our way in. Peter and I split up so that way we could get as many people saved as we could… And I went to where the more serious injuries were so I could get them stable. Then there was a gun shot… And I heard yelling and a few more gun shots. I went out to see what happened and… There was three of the five guys on the ground being held down by some of the team and… A-And Peter was slumped against the wall and his… His head was essentially blown to pieces."

"Heather… I'm… I'm so sorry." I said. That would explain why she'd gone through so many partners after Peter.

"You?" She asked, sipping her coffee,

"This isn't the worst but… Tom and I were called to a rough area for a collapsed person in the middle of the night… And when we got there it was an alleyway that we got called too often for drug addicts or homeless people so we drove into the alleyway and as I got out and went to the back to get the stretcher I was shoved against the back and I heard the click of a gun… Growing up in the East side of Tulsa you start to learn what those things sound like. One guy pistol whipped Tom and he was out cold and they made me get on my knees and they shoved the gun against my head while they robbed all of the medication out of the ambulance.

"They shot my arm and pistol whipped me as well. I remember being shaken and I woke up to the flashing lights of our fire truck and the squad was there. Chief was furious but not at us obviously. Liam stitched up my arm and we went back to the fire house. Elena was waiting for me there- they'd called her to see if we'd stopped n to see her. She was almost nine months pregnant at the time and she was absolutely terrified."

"Wow.. I'm sorry Johnny." I shook my head,

"It wasn't my worst case… My worst case I've never told anyone about. The only ones that know what happened are pretty well Tom and the chief… I couldn't tell anyone. But… it was pretty well the reason they made it mandatory that paramedics learn some sort of self defence."

"Oh… I… I heard what happened in that case… I'm…" She seemed speechless and I looked away. Her phone started ringing and she looked at me apologetically before answering,

"Hi sweetie." I checked my phone and I saw a picture from Elena of Easton sleeping on my side of the bed and Ella asleep on Elena's chest.

Heather sighed, "Put your daddy on the phone." She paused, "Tim what the hell did we just talk about? You're not supposed to be drinking when you are in charge of the kids."

"No, one of them didn't rat you out, what are you twelve? Timothy you're in charge of our children and they're not old enough to look after themselves or you. Stop drinking or I swear to god."

I texted Elena to see if she was still awake- I knew if I called her she would wake up but I didn't want to wake her.

"Okay, goodbye." Heather said ad she sighed,

"I guess this is what I get for marrying a hoodlum."

"Who's your husband?" I asked curiously and she smiled,

"Tim Shepherd."

"Wow… You… You actually married Tim Shepherd?" She nodded,

"I fell in love with him and his bad boy ways and then I got pregnant… We've been together since. My parents made us get married but… He usually is sweet."

"What does he do now?"

"He's a truck driver… Really the only job he could do with a record like his." That's fair, it was still surprising that Dallas was a plumber with his record.

"Long haul or local?"

"When we were younger and the kids were smaller he was a local driver but now that our youngest is five and my parents are more involved he really enjoys the long haul drives. At this point he's already been to every state at least once."

"How did you two meet?" I asked and she grinned,

"He was just about to hot wire my car and I caught him." I chuckled,

"Definitely something I can see Tim doing."

She reached forward to turn down the radio and I saw a 'RK' on her wrist,

"You're Louie King's younger sister aren't you?" I asked, realizing how why she looked so familiar.

She nodded, "One of the reasons my family didn't support my marriage to Tim." I nodded in understanding and she smiled,

"So how did you meet your wife?"

"In college… She was there and majoring in history and education. We lived in different residence buildings but her friend lived next door to me… The first couple months she hung out with the 'my daddy is a lawyer' type of guys and they kept picking on me from being from the south and they started getting pissed when I had a nice come back to every one of their jokes and… There was a huge party when I was studying one night and she knocked on my door because three guys kept trying to keep her to themselves and… We were inseparable since."

"What were they saying to you?" She asked curiously and I smiled,

"Stupid shit, they mocked me for being so polite and the chivalrous things like opening the door for a woman. I remember one time, Elena and her best friend were sitting at one of the table in the cafeteria and they were with the group of guys that liked to bother me and I remember they got my attention so I would take my music out. So they ended up saying something stupid like "we heard rednecks party in the bush. That sounds fucking lame," I said, "And I think I said something to the effect of 'you forgot about the orgies in the river'. And the girls lost it and those guys I swear had never wanted to kill me more."

She laughed and I sipped my coffee, "Alright what was your best shift?"

"My best shift… There was a car that had crashed and fallen into the river.. From what we were told there were two young children and a mom and they had swerved to avoid a pedestrian… The mom was unconscious but the oldest of the children was seven and his father facetimed their phone so we could see what condition they were in… Basically the little boy helped us rescue them. The car was wrecked but everyone was okay, the mom was kept overnight for observation."

I smiled and nodded, "That's great, nothing better than those."

"How about you?"

"Well… I'd have to say the shift I delivered my daughter."

"Shut up!" She said and I grinned and shook my head,

"We were having a 'family day' at the house, everyone that had a family was there and Elena was expecting our first girl. Her parents were travelling and her sister was in California for work.. Chief agreed to let her stay as long as everyone promised to keep it on the down low since she was already passed her due date. So during this whole family day thing I didn't exactly notice that she was in pain, she is extremely good at hiding her discomfort. So I was talking to some local kids since we were showing them around the house and letting them sit in the trucks and sound the sirens, and it was actually Tom that noticed something was wrong.

"She admitted she was in labor and we loaded her into the ambulance and she waited so long to tell us that she was already fully dilated and one of the firefighters that was an ex paramedic came to drive while Tom came to help me in the back. Elena did the whole thing without pain killers and by the time we got to the hospital my daughter was born."

Heather grinned, "That's amazing Johnny… Tim wasn't even there when the kids were born. With Peter and Michael, our two oldest, Tim was in Colorado and Minnesota respectively, when I had David, Tim was here but he was on a bender, but he was there when our youngest, Henry, was born."

"Wow… Was anyone there with you?"

She nodded, "Regardless of the fact that my parents didn't want to be in my life until two years ago, both of my brothers and most of their gang members were there for each birth… They helped me get through it. Tim was really sorry he missed them… He was on the phone with my brother while he missed Peter and Michael… My brothers sent out their gang to beat the shit out of him when David was born- I didn't know about that part- and when Henry was born I had everyone in the room with me. It made it so much easier." I nodded, I knew that the bond I shared with Elena grew stronger after I delivered our first child- most guys never want to see that wife in that position. It wasn't pretty, but it was something that made us grow closer together. There was literally nothing else to hide from each other after that day.

I felt better about being Heather's partner now- she pretty well knew the good and the bad, but every serviceman had the stories that they'd never ever talk about unless it was with their partner that experienced it first hand.

After the shift was over we all left around four in the morning and I hoped I wouldn't disturb the girls while they slept. When I got upstairs I went into each of my girls's rooms and kissed their heads before going into my room. Elena's side of the bed was empty and when I went over I could tell she was just in there- the bed was still warm.

She walked back in and she looked so beautiful- in one of my shirts and her hair was sitting against her messily.

"Johnny?" She asked softly and I nodded, wrapping my arms around her and kissing her head,

"Hey baby, how are you?" I whispered and she shrugged, sighing softly as she rested her head on my chest,

"Tired… But you're home. How was your shift?" She asked and I kissed her head,

"It was good baby, we didn't need to do more than take someone to the hospital for a broken arm." I'd already talked to her and told her all about Heather Shepherd.

She climbed back into bed and I changed out of my clothes and climbed in beside her, taking her into my arms. She started breathing slowly and it took me awhile to realize I was at home before I fell into a deep sleep.

Usually when I got home the first few hours I slept were choppy- I would wake up every half hour or so and if I heard a loud noise or a phone ring I'd be up. But after two hours of waking up and realizing I'm at home I'd sleep for five hours straight.

When I looked at the clock I realized it was roughly eleven thirty and I could hear the girls giggling downstairs. I rubbed my eyes and gave myself a couple minutes to wake up, before changing into a pair of pajama pants and a sweatshirt, going downstairs.

"Dada!" Easton squealed and she came running over, hugging my legs tightly. I bent down and picked her up, holding her close to me. This was the best part of working these shifts- all of my girls were so happy to see me. Ella started squealing from her spot on Elena's lap. I grinned and sat beside Elena, kissing her softly before kissing Ella's head as she leaned towards me for attention.

"Hello Ella Bella! Did you have a good sleep?" She nodded and grinned at me and I chuckled and kissed her head. It was only after that I noticed that Dallas and Beth were here and I smiled,

"Hey guys, how's it going?"

"Good, sorry to stop in unannounced, how did your first shift go at the house?" Dallas asked and I shrugged,

"Not too bad, you'll never guess who my partner is." I said, happily taking Easton into my arms as she crawled into my lap,

"Who?"

"Mrs. Tim Shepherd."

"Bullshit. There's no way that Tim's married."

"It's true, married with four boys."

"Well shit, I'll have to catch up with him." I nodded and Beth smiled,

"Well there's a reason we stopped in today, and I'm sure you both have some idea. Now that I'm getting closer to the due date we were faced with the task of figuring out who to make our son's godparents… And the only people that Dallas and I could think of… Are you both. So what we're wondering is… Will you be our son's god parents?"

"Oh my gosh of course!" Elena exclaimed and I nodded,

"We'd love that guys," We both stood up and went over to give them a hug,

"Thank you so much," Beth said, rubbing her bump.

"Could I feel?" Elena asked and Beth nodded,

"Yeah of course! He's kicking now," She said, taking Elena's hand. She grinned but I noticed the look my wife had and I had a funny feeling about that look.

"Did you want to feel Johnny?" Beth asked and I nodded,

"Yeah sure," I said, gently putting my hand on her bump. I grinned when the baby kicked and Beth smiled,

"Easton? Would you like to feel the baby kick?" She nodded and came over, and I sat her on the arm of the couch beside Beth. She felt it and started giggling. When Elena was pregnant with Ella Easton was too young to remember it.

"Dada?" Easton asked, looking over at me while she had her hand on Beth's bump,

"How did baby get in tummy?" I practically choked and looked at Elena. Thank God she was more prepared than I was,

"Well sweetheart, what happens is… Daddies get a seed and they use the seed and put it in a mommy and… If the mommy and daddy are right together then they will make a baby."

She nodded, seeming to be happy with the answer and I sighed in relief.

"Well we're going to get going, my parents are coming down to visit from Guymon." Beth said, "Do you mind if I use your washroom?"

Elena shook her head and took her to the washroom and Dally looked at me,

"So you and Elena will still be there tomorrow right?" He asked and I smiled and nodded,

"Yeah. We're picking the gift up later today. I'm surprised you put this all together man."

"Yeah yeah… I just want her to be happy."

I grinned and patted his shoulder, "You're doing a good job man, believe me." He smiled and we said goodbye and Elena's parents came in,

"Hello Johnny, how did your shift go?" Dad asked and I shrugged,

"It was a quiet shift thank god."

He nodded, "Well we were thinking of taking the girls to the mall and maybe to the aquarium depending on the time."

I knew Elena had probably already approved of the plans- we tended to usually want alone time once I was finished a shift. Four days was long for her and most of the time FaceTime or talking on the phone didn't exactly do it for her.

As embarrassing as it was I'm pretty sure her parents also knew that. Ever had flown back to Maine to finish a project and if her parents left with the kids Elena and I would be alone.

"Babe? I have a present for you upstairs." She said, taking my hand and leading me upstairs. I grinned and went with her eagerly, kissing her neck softly. I grinned when she turned us around to sit us on the bed.

"What is it?" I asked as she handed me a small box. She bit her lip and smiled,

"Open it." I took the bow off and I opened the top of the box, covering my mouth.

"L-Lena…" I whispered, she sniffled and grinned,

"Congratulations…" She said, barely above a whisper. I pulled her closer to me by her hips and I gently kissed her stomach. In the box were two pregnancy tests- both positive.

"I… We're having another baby…" I whispered in awe. She ran her fingers through my hair and I pushed her shirt up, kissing her belly button,

"Hi baby… Daddy can't wait to meet you… You're going to be so loved and so spoiled," I whispered, kissing her stomach again. Elena sniffled and bent down to kiss me. I gently pulled her into my lap,

"When is your doctor's appointment babe?" I asked, kissing her neck softly,

"Next Tuesday, I made it for mid afternoon so you could sleep in and get a quick cat nap before you start your next shift." I nodded and kissed her,

"I love you so much gorgeous," I said.


End file.
